#anyway i think her current design is an improvement over the earlier ones. i should re-draw some of my older fl drawings....

[thrythlind]

Katalepsis MotW Arc 7 Level Up

So... first thing I'm going to do is give both Evee and Raine an extra level up I didn't give the other characters. This is to account for a development that makes itself known almost immediately (within the first 3-4 parts).

Some might wonder why I'm giving those two a level up rather than the other two. I've been keeping level-ups equivalent for my own benefit, but since one of the main ways a hunter gets experience is by rolling poorly, that means you do get some uneven leveling up. Hunters that build themselves to be more reliable and effective from the get go (such as having a Monstrous start with both Unholy Strength and Unnatural Appeal so that they can roll half their basic moves with their massive Weird scores) tend to level-up slower than characters that make things harder on themselves.

Given that Raine and Evee are both partially out of commission at the start of arc 7, I think that justifies saying they had a bit more bad luck with their dice.

Now, what am I spending this on you ask? Why this one particular advanced improvement:

There are three characters I considered as the potential for being second hunters:

Zheng

Nicole Webb

Praem

And yes, I know Praem is currently on Evee's character sheet as an Ally. Well, this is not an unknown phenomenon for me. Let me go over the list of second hunters that have happened in my longer campaigns.

A second character planned from the get-go who was delayed joining because the player thought it was important that at least on hunter know how to drive. (Was the Exile)

An Italian police inspector who had been investigating the players' secret agency and whom I had cause problems off screen when they rolled low dealing with locals or doing investigation. (Became The Flake)

A recurring character who was a college kid that died and whom they accidentally semi-resurrected without noticing. Apparently the answer to "who's going to explain to her she's undead" was "we'll make her a PC".

A random girl they rescued from an incarnation of entropy in a Tibetan temple.

The original person who belonged in the body that the Monstrous had been possessing since the beginning of the campaign.

That was three different groups of players.

I seem to get a lot of people who go "hey, you know that NPC we all like? Can I make them my second hunter?"

Anyway. on to picking who these new characters.

Praem is a natural, she's one of the new hunters, and I'm going to pull up a third party playbook I rarely involve myself with. I've been considering this for her for a while, but I've also been considering changing Evelyn into a not-yet-released playbook that is focused on working with allies. Amusingly, one of the improvements for said not-yet-public playbook is to designate one of your allies to become a new hunter should your character "die" and said ally-turned-hunter would get a +1 to every roll they take towards either avenging or reviving you. To quote one of my playtesters from a sci-fi game who giggled on finding this "I'm going to be the angriest drone". And if I had STARTED Evee out as that playbook... this circumstance would have fallen SOOO neatly into that. But I started Evee off as the Expert. I might still have her go to that playbook later.

So, now, let's look to the cases for Nicole Webb vs Zheng.

In all honesty, either one feels like they're going to be a bit hit or miss on whether they are around or not. But I point again to the fact that players not required to play both their hunters all the time. So that's fine. Zheng has a lot more history with the team, but also Nicole's introduction is this weird blend of coming way out of left-field but also doing so that makes plausible sense and fits seemlessly into the story with no stress to suspension of disbelief. Heck the arrival of some sort of police officer was foreshadowed a lot earlier than that.

Also, Webb is a bit easier for me to model without duplicating playbooks. I already have a Monstrous and a Hard Case. Zheng is probably doable as a Summoned, though she herself isn't really a herald of Doomsday, and that's a fairly big part of the Summoned central story, so that's a bit hard. Divine would be another option, especially given that in addition to being able to make up your own mission, there's one that states that the Divine is just sort of on Earth for their own reasons.

Also I just like Zheng as a dangerous and chaotic Ally rather than fellow hunter. Similar to Lozzie, actually.

Finally, as I said, Nicole just feels like the sort of thing a player would throw into the mix. "Hey, that police officer we just caught, can I make her my second hunter?"

So that brings to what sort of hunter she is. I've thrown around the ideas of The Gumshoe and The Mundane... but I think I'm going to play her as The Professional and that's going to be a twist because The Professional usually works for an Agency that explicitly hunts monsters, but we're going to build her using the resources of the police force with said police force being out of the know.

But before we do that, we're going to create Praem as a hunter.

As I said earlier, she is going to be "The Constructed", a playbook which represents exactly what it sounds like: an animated statue or other object.

The Constructed starts with three moves, two mandatory and one selected from a list of five.

The first Mandatory move is "Inhuman" which gives Praem difficulty in understanding human behavior, mannerisms, and emotions. In this case, it feels more like her limited expression is hampering her than her understanding but the effect is the same. Also, this move means that Praem has 10 Harm boxes instead of 7 and she never goes unstable. This gives her more health than Raine, but she's still not as invulnerable as say Twil who may have less Harm, but is far harder to damage and heals rapidly.

The second is Recharge: You may repair yourself by immersing yourself into a source of your animating force, but it's dangerous. It's basically an option to swiftly heal that fleshies don't have. In Praem's case this would likely be a magic ritual to repair and replace her into a body.

For the third move, there are three that stand out: "Mystic Focus" meaning her body can act as a component in use magic and rituals; "Hide in Plain Sight", where if you stay very still people tend not to notice you... typically this is because they mistake the Constructed for a statue, but that's easily refluffed into her just generally "suddenly there" bits. But the one I'm going with is "But Why?" where her struggles to understand people mean she gets more out of people than they mean to give and that fits very well with how quickly she's learning.

I've usually been skipping Gear selections, but for The Constructed some of their gear options involves their body, so I'm going to focus in on that option right now and give her "Fists" and "Wrestle" to represent her great strength.

Finally, I think her basic Weird move is going to be "No Limits" similar to Twil.

Now, for stats. All Constructed get Tough +2, so what remains is to choose which of the five stat-lines for Constructed she'll take. I want her to have positive Weird, so that cuts the options to two:

Charm -1, Cool -1, Sharp +0, Tough +2, Weird +2

Charm 0, Cool +1, Sharp -1, Tough +2, Weird +1

Both have solid points in their favor: Praem is a bit of a hot-head for as much as she has few words to express it so her Cool could be low, but also she does teamwork well and handles hazards better than most. So you could also Cool is pretty high. Her ability to talk to people is limited and mostly dependent on being around people who are her long time friends. She is not unobservant, but also she doesn't often do the investigative side of things.

I think I'm going to go with the option for +1 Weird though, for a wider range of stats representing Praem after some more growth. If I had introduced her as a new hunter right from when she was introduced, I would have gone with the first line.

Now, for her Purpose, a special feature of The Constructed. The options are "Weapon" meaning she'd do more damage with her attacks, "Guardian", making her better at protecting people, "Asisstant" which makes her better at teamwork, and "Experiment" which lets her start off with an extra move from another Playbook.

She also has an "Animating Force" which is going to be "Magic" as I noted earlier. Unfortunately her generally tough nature means she doesn't heal naturally on her own. The fiction doesn't match this, so I'm going to be addressing that with a later improvement.

And actually... while Assistant would probably be more to the intention Evee had, the way the story developed feels more like Experiment and I'm going to work in a bit of how she's a bit good at detecting danger while not often doing the research side of things: "Tactical Genius" a Professional move that lets the hunter use Read a Bad Situation with Cool instead of Sharp, taking her Read from a -1 to a +1, better than most people in the world.

And speaking of The Professional, lets move on to Nicole Webb... and I have to say I ALMOST changed her to The Gumshoe so that she'd have less direct involvement with the Police whenever she got involved. What stopped me was The Gumshoe's Code which, as long as they adhere to it the individual would be immune to any sort of supernatural possession or charm among other benefits tied to other moves. And I just don't think Nicole's there yet. Currently, the Code I'd give her would be "Attention to detail, it's part of the job" but I'm not sure how that code would lead to dramatic situations where she's tempted to break it. Which is another reason for skipping on Gumshoe.

So, back to The Professional. We're going to start with stats this time and, as a note, all Professionals have +2 Cool, keeping their head on straight is what they are best at. And looking at the stat lines there's one that stands out for her:

Charm +1, Cool +2, Sharp +1, Tough -1, Weird +0

She's not much of a fighter, but she notes she was called in to talk to witnesses as a soft touch and she's pretty damn observant. So +1 Charm and +1 Sharp are both good choices (remember +1 is better than most people out and about).

Now for her Agency, we have to design the Sharrowford Police Department. It will get two Resources (good traits) and two Red Tape options (bad trait).

I already know the Red Tape here and it's going to include one of my not-yet-public traits for Agencies, but I'll just reveal this one since people could easily homebrew these traits (heck the not-yet-public project gives advice on how to home brew stuff for this game). Anyway, the Red Tape will be "Skepticism" and "Hostile Superiors" because her bosses don't like her and the department doesn't believe in the supernatural.

Now, for Resources: I think "Official Pull" and "Recognized Authority" are both good options here.

The Professional gets Four moves, one of which is mandatory: "Deal with the Agency" which represents their attempts to leverage the Agency for the mysteries and how they might get suspended or even under investigation if things go badly.

For the optional three, we have a list of seven moves to choose from. We're going with "Mobility" because she has a car, though I don't think it is ever described (but I may have just missed it). It will have two good things and one bad one, so saying "anonymous" and "toolkit" for the good things, and "gas-guzzler" for the bad thing. I'm also giving her "Bottle Up" which allows you to take bonuses on rolls to Act Under Pressure with the understanding that the Keeper can turn those into penalties against you later on a different roll as those bottled up emotions come rolling out. And for the third, I'm left with options that she doesn't quite demonstrate, but could have done off-screen. I'm going with "Battlefield Awareness" so that she's always counted as having +1 armor on top of whatever she's wearing, to a maximum of 2. Meaning if she wears a concealable vest, then she has comparable mechanical armor to Twil.

For her Weird basic move, I'm going with Trust Your Gut, similar to Raine.

Also, I realize I need to consider whether to include these two newbies in the Team Playbook... Praem certainly does, but I'm going to hold off on Nicole Webb for a bit. I don't think she's fully initiated and I'm also not sure what supernatural weirdness to get her as a full coven member. If she turns back up, I assume something will present itself.

For Praem, I'm giving her a Monstrous Move: and it's going to be "Something Borrowed" (yes, I use that one a lot) and the move she's borrowing is "Prepared to Defend" from the Searcher which means that if she Kicks Some Ass or Protects Someone, she suffers 1 Harm less. For her Curse, Pure Drive: Love. Praem does a lot of unwise things in the name of helping her friends.

Also, for reference, I think Nicole is the second hunter for Evee's player and Praem is the second hunter for Raine's player. Mostly because of the line about how "she's bitter you'd like her" being told to Evee about Nicole and the way Praem tends to playfully engage with both Heather and Evee a lot.

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Now for level ups.

This was a long one, and I'm going to do the following:

Evee, Raine, Twil, and Heather will each get two more improvements (accounting for them being a bit more reliable with generally higher stats and thus leveling slower.)

Nicole and Praem will get four level-ups. Because this was a long'un and they be newbies, so more poor rolls to deal with. Partially because this puts Nicole in range of changing playbooks soon if the plot sees her quit or get fired. In which case, I might take her to either The Searcher or The Gumshoe.

I'm also giving the Team Playbook 2 level ups. Perhaps some people gave some of their XP to the Team Playbook.

Moving on, let's deal with Heather's level ups. She's a newbie Hex but she's already flirting with the Hex advanced moves. Felt like she was on the verge of going Apotheosis, then leaned toward Synthesis by saving Sarika's life, but she's go a ways to go before she can make the choice between those two (she'll only ever get to pick one).

On the matter of how she freed Zheng, I could see that as Force of Will, but that is generally only a temporary suppression. However, it could serve as part of a Big Magic ritual and the effort taken does feel like it fits. I could also give her another Rote. What I'm going to do is give her +1 Weird for sure, to max her out at +3. She be as weird as the weirdest monster now. I'm also going to let her borrow a move from another playbook (something The Hex can only do once) to pick up "Third Eye" from the Spell-Slinger (think Harry Dresden) because of how often she started using her hyperdimensional math to analyze and define people, spells, and things.

I considered giving her a Rote to explain resurrecting/saving Sarika. But I think that was possibly a one-time mystery thing for now, once I see it or something like it repeated: New Rote.

Also... can I just say... wow was The Hex and Addiction a good choice for Heather... holy cow... she even almost followed straight across the moral event horizon when she considered killing Nicole at first. (here's me imagining Heather's player saying "I'm just going to kill her" and Evee's player saying, "Actually, can I make her my second hunter?" "What?" and the Keeper going "What if Lozzie talks you down.... again I'm reframing a bit of fiction... if something like that happened in Hungry's stream of consciousness as she was writing this, I'd be astounded.)

Now, on to Raine. For her two level-ups, I'm taking two of the Hard Case unique ones: giving her another +1 Harm so that she's even harder to kill and I'm giving her last move (until she changes playbooks) and having her borrow Unfazeable to take her cool to +3... because she took a frigging nap in a house that was literally going to hell as if it was no big deal.

On to Evee. Well, Evee is losing the ally she got for Adept Sorcerer since Praem is now a hunter and has her own agency (but not Agency, that's Nicole) and everything. And, you know what... I'm going to use one of my not yet public optional advanced improvements to give her a second basic Weird move which will be Summoner and yep, that's a new one coming up, suffice to say it is about calling monsters into being to do jobs for you. And for her second level up.... I'm changing her playbook to Covenant a playbook all about working with allies.

Now, on changing playbooks, there's nothing about Evee's stats that really need changing or removal... I'm crossing out Adept Sorcerer, but that would have happened anyway. This playbook comes with a free ally or ally team and an ability to protect allies that fall once per session. In Evee's case I'm going with a Rolodex representing a team of allies that have varying specialties and operate individually. If Praem were still an Ally, I'd have instead gone with Watson for a single extra-competent ally. Evee's allies are summoned demons.

In addition to those elements, this playbook gets two other moves and those will be Smash Cut where you reveal that you had sent a particular ally to do a task for you off screen and Who Said I Was Alone? allowing an ally to suddenly appear on the scene at the last minute to protect you from disaster. And I've kind of seen Praem do both of these things already. I don't expect that Evee will create another ally nearly as emotionally invested as Praem in the rest of the story, switching to this playbook does feel like an expansion and mechanical shaping of things she has already done in the past.

Now, on to Twil. I'm considering changing her playbook, but I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, I'm thinking of changing her to the playbook I borrowed some of her moves from. On the other I think she's also leaning very heard into the idea of The Protector, a third party playbook I've seen played on The Monster's Playbook podcast. Because I'm not sure which direction to go though, I'm instead going to hold off and spend her two level ups on increasing her Cool twice, to get it to +1. So she's now better at dealing with hazards and teamwork (for example, grabbing Evee so that both of them are behind Heather could be an example of helping Heather Protect Someone... which Heather really needs... because she's not that tough). That uses her +1 Cool and her +1 any improvement so until she changes playbooks, that's as high as that's going.

I have been told that Twil is a bit off but I wouldn't know why yet. Not sure I've hit that point of in the story where I realize what I got wrong yet.

For Praem, for one of her level-ups I'm giving her a second Animating Force in the form of "Meditation" similar to how Zheng did it. It takes time and leaves them vulnerable to attack and notice, but it does mean that she doesn't depend on a mage to heal her all the time. Just in catastrophic cases, and that better fits the fiction. For another level up, I am going to give her +1 Weird to get it to +2. I'm also going to borrow a move from another playbook: Helping Hand from the Initiate so that when she helps out she grants +2 instead of +1. Finally, I'm going to give her +1 Cool so that it goes up to +2 which will affect her Help Out, Act Under Pressure, and Read a Bad Situation.

For Nicole, I'm going to borrow The Naked City from The Gumshoe and say she has contacts with Police (Local), Accountants, Media, and Criminals (Street). The Media is mostly a nod to the end of the arc where she gets some national attention her way. I'm also giving her +1 Sharp and +1 Charm. I'm also giving her "Leave No One Behind". I know she didn't actually pull Sarika single-handedly out of danger... but fake it til you make, you know?

For the Team Playbook, I'm going for Zheng as a new Team Ally and another team move: Bell, Book, and Candle which is a move that makes the group very very good at performing rituals that should take a lot more people. Basically, each member of the group counts as three people for the purpose of Big Magic. Feels like that could explain how they punch over their weight class so thoroughly in a lot of cases.

Which results in the following character sheets:

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Team Playbook: Coven

Team Playbook: Coven

Team Style: Superheroes with Fangs, Oath: The means determines the ends.

Team Ally: Lozzie, Zheng

Team Enemy: The Eye

Team Moves: Laws of Hospitality; How Awful Goodness Is; Bell, Book, and Candle

Team Asset: Headquarters, Archive, Leyline Map, Wards and Barriers, Ritual Cupboard, Armory

Improvements

Take two more dots worth of Assets: Leyline Map

Take two more dots worth of Assets: Wards and Barriers

Take a new Teambook Move: How Awful Goodness Is

Take two more dots worth of Assets: Ritual Cupboard and Armory

Take a new Team Ally: Zheng

Take a new Teambook Move: Bell, Book, and Candle

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Heather Morell - The Spooky The Hex

Charm +2

Cool +1

Sharp +1

Tough -1

Weird +3

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Use Magic

Advanced Basic Moves: Use Magic, Read a Bad Situation

Spooky Moves: The Sight, Tune In, Jinx, The Big Whammy

Hex Moves: Bad Luck Charm, Burn Everything, Wise Soul

Borrowed Moves (Spooky): Guardian: Tenny (Ally Type: Bodyguard, to intercept danger), FINISH HIM! (Fire)

Borrowed Move (Hex): Third Eye

Dark Side: Paranoia, Guilt, Pain

Temptation: Addiction

Rotes

Out: 1-harm, nausea, touch target. roll +Weird, 10+ send them where you want and you can retrieve them. 7-9 you lose track, they or their disappearance will be a problem. 6- you're unable to complete it and attract bad attention.

Fire: 0/10 (Fire increases when)

Each 1 Harm suffered

Each time a friend is hurt

Each time someone defies Heather

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Weapons:

The Big Whammy - 2-harm, close, obvious, ignore-armor. (Kick Some Ass with +Weird)

Burn Everything A - 3-harm, area, magic, obvious (Use Magic)

Burn Everything B - 3-harm, ignore-armor, magic, obvious (Use Magic)

Mark of Kinship

Changeling Move: They are my People

Unknown Heritage: Strange Thoughts, Sensory Bombardment

Improvements

Take a Spooky Move: The Big Whammy

Take a move from another playbook: Guardian (Searcher)

Increase Charm +1, max 2

Take a move from another playbook: FINISH HIM! (Hard Case)

Increase Cool +1, max 2

Use Magic and Read a Bad Situation advanced

Change Playbook: The Hex

Increase Weird +1, max 3

Take a move from another playbook: Third Eye (Spell-Slinger)

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Raine Haynes - The Hard Case

Charm +1

Cool +3

Sharp +0

Tough +3

Weird -1

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Trust Your Gut

Advanced Basic Moves: Kick Some Ass, Manipulate Someone

Hard Knocks: Bodyguard

Hard Case Moves: Furnace (Fire), Stone Cold, Inspired Guesswork (Fire), Weapon Master, Unstoppable (Fire)

Borrowed Moves: Background: Burglary (Crooked), Unfazeable

Fire: 0/10 (Fire increases when)

Each 1 Harm suffered

Each time a friend is hurt

Each time someone defies Raine

Harm: 0/9 (Unstable at 5, Dead at 10)

Mark of Kinship

Monstrous Move: Something Borrowed: Ancient Fighting Arts

Curse: Pure Drive (Violence)

Gear: A spell formula written on a napkin, pistol (2 harm close), Crowbar/Baseball Bat (2-harm hand messy innocuous, 3 Harm with Ancient Fighting Arts), Huge Fucking Knife (2-harm hand messy, 3-harm hand with Ancient Fighting Arts)

Improvements:

Increase Cool +1, max 2

Increase Tough +1, max 3

Take a Hard Case move: Weapon Master

Take a Hard Case move: Unstoppable

Add 1 Harm box before the unstable line.

Take a move from another Playbook: Background: Burglary (Crooked)

Kick Some Ass and Manipulate Someone advanced

Create a Second Hunter: Praem

Take a move from another playbook: Unfazeable

Add an extra harm box to your harm track before "Dying"

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Evelyn "Evee" Saye - The Expert The Covenant

Charm +0

Cool +1

Sharp +2

Tough -1

Weird +2

Moves

Weird Move: Use Magic, Summoner

Known Summons: Tardus venandi, Servitors

Advanced Basic Moves: Use Magic, Investigate a Mystery

Expert Moves: Often Right, Dark Past, Preparedness, I've read about this sort of thing.

Covenant Moves: Covenant, Friendship: Rolodex, Smash Cut, Who Said I Was Alone?

Borrowed Moves: Dark Negotiator, Adept Sorcerer: Praem (Ally type: Subordinate to follow your exact instructions)

Haven: Mystical Library, Protection Spells, Magical Laboratory, Guardian

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Mark of Kinship

Fractal Rote: Roll +Weird, 10+ the symbol is stable and will last some days of passive use and hours of active use. 7-9 the symbol wears out quickly and will break down much more rapidly. 6- the symbol will fail at the worst possible moment.

Summoning Rote: Roll +Weird, 10+ the summoned creature will be strong and responsive, 7-9 the summoned creature will be strong or responsive, but not both, 6- the creature will go out of control.

Temptation: Vengeance

Improvements

Increase Weird +1, max 2

Take a move from another playbook: Adept Sorcerer (Exile)

Take a move from another playbook: Dark Negotiator (Monstrous)

Take an Expert move: Preparedness

Take an Expert move: I've read about this sort of thing.

Add an option to your haven

Use Magic and Investigate a Mystery advanced

Create a Second Hunter: Nicole Webb

Add a second Weird Move: Summoner

Change playbooks: The Covenant

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Twil Hopton - The Monstrous

Charm +0

Cool +0

Sharp +0

Tough +2

Weird +3

Breed: Werewolf

Curse: Vulnerability Silver

Natural Attack: Claws (3-harm hand), Fangs (3-harm intimate)

Moves

Basic Weird Move: No Limits

Advanced Basic Moves: Protect Someone, No Limits

Monstrous Moves: Something Borrowed: Invincible, Unquenchable Vitality, Shapeshifter, Preternatural Speed

Borrowed Moves: Predator and Prey, Symbiosis (Benefits: Can't be possessed, non-physical symbiote, Downsides: Limited Communication)

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Armor: 2 (Invincible)

Mark of Kinship

Spooky Move: Hunches

Dark Side: Secrets, Poor Impulse Control

Improvements:

Take a Monstrous move: Shapeshifter

Take a Monstrous move: Preternatural Speed

Take a move from another playbook: Predator and Prey (Host)

Take a move from another playbook: Symbiosis (Host)

Increase Charm +1, max 2

Add another natural attack option

Protect Someone and No Limits Advanced

Increase Cool +1, max 2

Increase any +1, max 3 (Cool)

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Praem - The Constructed

Charm +0

Cool +2

Sharp -1

Tough +2

Weird +2

Purpose: Experiment

Animating Force: Magic, Meditation

Moves

Basic Weird Move: No Limits

Constructed Moves: Inhuman, Recharge, But Why?

Experiment Borrowed Move: Tactical Genius (Professional)

Borrowed Moves (Constructed): Helping Hand (Initiate)

Harm: 0/10 (Dead at 11)

Mark of Kinship

Monstrous Move: Something Borrowed: Prepared to Defend (Searcher)

Curse: Pure Drive (Love)

Improvements:

Add a second Animating Force

Increase Cool +1, max 2

Increase Weird +1, max 2

Take a move from another playbook: Helping Hand (Initiate)

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Detective Sergeant Nicole Webb - The Professional

Charm +2

Cool +2

Sharp +2

Tough -1

Weird +0

Agency: Sharrowford Police Department

Resources: Official Pull, Recognized Authority

Red Tape: Hostile Superiors, Skepticism

Moves

Basic Weird Move: Trust Your Gut

Professional Moves: Deal with the Agency; Mobility: Anonymous, Toolkit, Gas-Guzzler; Bottle it Up; Battlefield Awareness; Leave No One Behind

Borrowed Moves (Professional): The Naked City: Local Police, Accountants, Media, Street Criminals (Gumshoe)

Harm: 0/7 (Unstable at 4, Dead at 8)

Improvements:

Take a move from another playbook: The Naked City (Gumshoe)

Increase Sharp +1, Max 2

Increase Charm +1, Max 2

Take a Professional move: Leave No One Behind

[bunnyywritings]

Can I request Shinsou doing a hero-work study with a young popular female hero? But during the study he starts to gain feelings for them due to their energetic personality and how loving she was to him. How they understand his struggle with his quirk and such, in general just makes him feel more confident. But she doesn’t only sees him as a little brother kinda thing? I hope this makes sense 💕 thank you!

misunderstood and unheard

hitoshi shinso x fem!reader

[a/n: this is such a creative prompt, thank you for the request anon!!! enjoy some sad shinso, -yours truly, bunnyy -`ღ´- ps. for the sake of a hero theme, (y/n) is kinda like an alt girl...that’s how she dresses, her ideals, how her hero costume is designed and how her agency is decorated]

To say he was shocked is a bit of an understatement. He never thought that his work-study application to your agency would be accepted.

You were someone he looked up to, someone he admired. You were a young hero, no more than a couple years older than him and you were already in the Top 5 and had your own agency. You were known because of your quirk. It was very powerful but also seen as villainous. You had a history of never accepting any students for the work-study program, only accepting office interns. So imagine the disbelief on his face when Aizawa had given him the letter. He took it to his room and got comfortable. With fluttering fingers, he shakily ripped open the envelope and tossed it aside. He took a deep breath before carefully unfolding the paper. It was handwritten. You had taken the time to personally hand write him a letter.

‘Dear Hitoshi, I usually don’t take on any students for the work-study program, so I was a little surprised to see your application in my inbox. I decided to take the chance and look it over. Once I saw that you’re currently enrolled at UA, I requested to see footage from your practice matches and the sports festival. You show a lot of promise to become a top hero one day, you’re very talented. As you probably know, I have experience with a quirk like yours and seeing as there’s a lot of very unkind people and unwilling heroes, I would like to inform you that I will gladly accept your application for a work-study. I’m very excited to meet you and help you develop the kind of experience you need to grow as a young hero. I hope you’re ready, your first day starts this Friday at 7am. You’ve already been cleared from class if you decide you want to accept.’

You...you accepted his application...

He hugged his pillow to his chest and buried is red face into it. His heart was racing and adrenaline pumping. He had never been happier in his life. He 100% framed the letter and put it on his wall.

He woke up extra early on the morning of, he just couldn’t contain himself. He had decided to forgo the school uniform and dress in casual clothes, carrying his hero costume in the metal briefcase given by the school. It had definitely improved since his first year, it was simple but it worked. His heartbeat became more erratic as his legs carried him all the way to your agency building. All he could do was stand there, in absolute awe.

“Looks like we were both excited and got here early.” He jumped at the sudden voice beside him, eyes widening as his eyes landed on you. You were dressed in civilian clothes and it took everything in him to not drool. You definitely had style. He blushed when you tilted your head in a confused manner, realizing that he hadn’t responded.

“Y-yeah, sorry. I just c-couldn’t wait s-so...yeah.” He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

“Well then, come on in.” You giggled as you unlocked the door and held it open for him, he nervously walked. You followed behind him as he looked around in awe. You never really thought that your agency was anything special but he was looking around like he was in disneyland. People had described your office as very homey. There was an exposed brick interior, all the furniture was vintage looking, a turntable in the corner with a shelf of various different vinyl discs beside it. He felt like he was in his dream bedroom.

“Alright then, Hitoshi.” He turned to you, cheeks still pink. “Time to suit up.” The wink you gave him made his face burn. It was going to be a long day.

Going on patrol with you just made his adoration and pride for you grow. You had posed for pictures, did countless autographs, and even went out of your way to make a tik tok or two with some kids. There was no wonder why your social ranking was so high. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. There was some guy trying to rob a convenience store while the both of you made your way back to the agency.

“Why don’t you take this one Hitoshi-kun.” You patted his shoulder encouragingly.

“Are you sure?” He cocked an eyebrow at you.

“Yeah, I fully believe in you.” Your smile is what filled him with courage. 

He calmly approached the robber, “Sir are you sure you want to be doing that?”

“Of course! Now leave me alone you wannabe hero!” The second that shout left the man’s mouth, he froze. Eyes going blank.

You watched with your arms crossed, a small smile on your lips.

“Now why don’t you drop the weapon and put your arms around your back.” The man moved stiffly as he did what he was told. Shinso turned to you, eyes asking what he should do next. You unhooked a pair of handcuffs from your belt and tossed them to him. He caught them with ease and slapped them onto the man’s wrist.

After handing the robber off to the proper authorities, you both made your way to your agency. Ordering some lunch and eating it in your office.

“It must’ve been difficult for you.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Growing up with a quirk like that.” After your clarification, he nodded somberly. Unpleasant memories resurfacing.

“All my life, I had been told my quirk was villainous. People were scared that I would take advantage of them, no one would talk to me...and sure things are a little different now but I still feel like no one truly gets it.” He didn’t know why he was being so honest but he felt like he could be honest with you.

“I truly understand how you feel. My own parents disowned me, they were disgusted by my quirk. My classmates were always terrified of me. They’d tell me that, even if I ever got to be a hero that I’d give the person I’m trying to save a heart attack. Even now as a pro, I get slandered in the press or while on patrols. I get called a demon, heroes like Endeavor are trying to kick me from the hero association.” His eyes widened as he listened to you talk, he could hear the tinge of pain in your voice.“Trying to navigate life alone is hard, I’ve been alone all of my life. When I saw you in the sports festival, the way people reacted to your quirk, I felt for you. I know what it feels like so I thought I’d-” Before you finished, a siren went off in your office. 

“Well, looks like lunch time is over.” You smiled sympathetically at him. “Let’s go.“

After helping fend off a villain and having you throw yourself in front of him to protect him, the two of you made your way back.

“Uhm there’s a locker room down the hall. You can shower before heading back to your dorm.” You smiled but he could see you were tired. Right before you guys could leave, Endeavor had some interesting choice words for you and him. You were quick to defend him from the current number 1 hero instead of defending yourself. He felt bad. It was only his first day and you had to protect him from a villain and defend him from the sharp tongue of Endeavor. He nodded and grabbed his bag, making his way to the locker room.

“What do you want Enji? Didn’t you already get enough earlier?”

“Don’t run your mouth brat. I’m here to drop off paperwork for the damage you caused.” The stack of papers he tossed thumped against your desk and you got up and crossed your arms, scoffing.

“The damage I caused? I think you’re confused Enji because last time I checked, my quirk didn’t cause someone’s house to catch fire.” You went to reach for the stack of paper but he caught your wrist in a vice grip and pulled you closer to him.

“Don’t think that you’ll ever get to the top (y/n), I’ll always be there to kick you down.” 

You chuckled, although it came off as more of a grimace. “That’s not very plus ultra of you Enji...you forget. Not everyone’s goal is to get to the top to try and revive any broken ego we have. Some of us are here to actually help people.” That didn’t please him as he shoved you away.

“I’ll be seeing you around (y/n).” He threatened. Shinso frowned as he watched Endeavor stomp out of the building, turning to you and seeing you rub our red wrist.

“Is everything okay?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, he just dropped off some paper work.” He approached you and softly took you wrist in his hand, thumb gently running over the slight hand print he left behind.

“Did he-?”

“It’s okay Toshi-kun, it’s nothing.” The smile on your lips was convincing enough for him to drop the topic. “Now, why don’t you head back and get some rest. I’ve got some paper work to do.”

“I can help you with that.”

“Oh no, Toshi you should really go and get some rest.” You shook your head.

“Please, let me help you out. If I’m gonna be a hero, I should learn how to properly do paperwork, right?” He smiled, trying to convince you.

“Okay fine. Go put on a record and I’ll order us some more food.” 

Over the next couple of hours, the two of you ate, did paperwork, danced around to whatever record was playing and just goofed around. After a bit, he had fallen asleep while resting his head on the desk.

“I told you to go home and rest.” You whispered, shaking your head. Picking up your phone, you sandwiched it against your cheek and shoulder as you placed your jacket over his shoulder.

“Hey Aizawa, your kid fell asleep while doing paperwork...yeah, I know...well I don’t mind keeping him here. I wasn’t really planning on heading home anyways...of course...thanks Shota.” After you hung up, you pushed Shinso’s hair back. “Sweet dreams Toshi.” You placed a soft kiss against his forehead. He tried hard to fend off the smile threatening to stretch his lips.

After that, the work-study lasted for 3 more months.

“Let’s go out.”

“H-Huh?” He stuttered, looking up from the paper work the both of you were doing.

“To commemorate your last day. Let’s go eat, it’s almost time to clock out anyways.“ He agreed and the both of you decided to go get some ramen. He couldn’t help but feel like this was a date. He knew it wasn’t but a boy could dream. As the both of you ate, he reminisced about spending so much time with you.

“I’m gonna miss you Toshi-kun.” Your sudden confession made his heart skip a beat. “I like having you around.” He paused, standing under a sakura tree that the two of you walked under.

“Is everything okay?” You asked as you turned around, standing in front of him.

“I-I need to be h-honest with you (y-y/n).”

“Oh okay, go ahead.” You smiled sweetly at him, trying to ease his worry.

“I think-I think I’m in l-love with you. You make me feel like I’m not alone and the things I experienced are valid. Y-Your smile makes my heart skip a beat and-”

“Oh Toshi-kun.” You gently cut him off. The sad smile on your face made his stomach drop. “I’m sorry Toshi, I’m going to have to cut you off right there. I can’t reciprocate those feelings that you have.” He was expecting that but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Why? Is-Is it because I’m too young? Am I not your type?” The slight desperation in his voice broke your heart as his eyes glistened with unshed tears.

“That’s not it at all Toshi but I can’t return the feelings because I see you kinda like a little brother. I care about you and want to see you grow...I’m sorry.” You didn’t really know what to do.

“Oh...no. I-I’ve probably made you uncomfortable. I’m so sorry, I-” He sighed, running a hand down his face, hanging his head in embarrassment.

“That’s okay Toshi, no need to apologize at all.” You gently patted his head. He looked up and wiped his eyes.

“Can I give you a hug?” The question made him bite his lip in contemplation. He decided to divulge and nodded. The feeling of being in your arms made him instantly feel better. The warmth radiating from you was comforting.

“I really am sorry Hitoshi. This doesn’t change anything though. If you want to apply to my agency once you graduate. There’s always room for you.” You leaned down and planted a kiss on the crown of his head. “You can rely on me if you ever need me.” You muttered, you could feel his shoulders shake, there was something wet seeping through your shirt. You went to pull away but he gripped onto you.

“Please...just a little bit longer.” He whispered brokenly. You held him closer to you, guilty for making him feel so upset.

Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be.

Or are they?? (Alternate ending)

[diyunho]

The Joker X Reader - “What Death Tastes Like” Part 2

Scarecrow’s daughter might be only 22, yet the terminal lung cancer she was diagnosed with six months ago didn’t discriminate against her age; the young woman didn’t show worrisome symptoms until it was too late. Y/N always had a fascination for the much older King of Gotham and despite the consequences, maybe it’s finally time to do something about it.

Part 1         Part 3        Part 4      Part 5

“That was very nice,” you whisper in The Joker’s ear. “I know you’re not sleeping,” you sigh and force yourself to get out of his bed after watching TV together for almost 3 hours. “I’m going, OK?” you whisper, not sure why he’s ignoring you. But you have a clue: he probably just wanted to avoid a huge fight with Emma or your father finding out about his cruel words regarding your illness. “Fine, whatever…” you admonish and exit the premises, upset he’s behaving like that since he offered truce a few hours ago. The King of Gotham is actually completely out, even if you believe otherwise.

It was awesome having him carry you in his arms and not protest when you kissed him; you have to admit you were disappointed he didn’t initiate anything once you ended up in his bed; you really thought he would. J let you snuggle to him and you hoped for more to happen, yet his lack of interest made you realize it was stupid to try and hint you wanted him. What is a 40-ish old man supposed to do with a 22 years old woman that playfully keeps flirting with him? In this case, obviously just enjoy a couple of movies which proved he doesn’t take into consideration your dumb crush.

The more you analyze this night, the more you’re inclined to vote for the exact opposite of what you did: you should have kept your mouth shut and refrain sharing intimate matters with him.

I guess sometimes genius truly skips a generation …

*************

3 Weeks Later

You didn’t come to the mansion in the last 3 weeks: when J woke up the next morning after your visit, you were gone. Emma informed him you waited for her to catch up and then went home; he wondered if you left because of what happened or if there was no reason for it at all. One thing’s for certain though: The Joker got the slight impression you evade him, especially since two days ago you dropped Emma off then raced out of the property in a hurry when you noticed he was coming out of the house. The skid marks on the pavement were a pretty clear sign you didn’t want to linger at the place you normally enjoyed hanging out at.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean you can escape The Clown Prince of Crime forever.

“OK,” Emma gives you a soft nudge in the restaurant owned by her parent. “You gotta help me out,” she pleads to a skeptical Y/N. “I insisted we have lunch here for a good reason: my dad brought his wacko-on-and-off-girlfriend and I can’t stand her; I need backup. Please flirt with him and say that stuff you usually say!” she giggles. “You have my blessing to go crazy, I swear you won’t hear a peep out of me! It will be hilarious to see her reaction!” she pushes you and it’s too late to escape the unwanted rendezvous you had no clue about until now.

You are already at the table and didn’t have a moment to take in your best friend’s proposal: you wish you had a warning about this plan of hers but Emma impulsiveness and surprise element runs in the family.

Maybe she thought you would love such a funny challenge…

Yeah… not really...

You know Mara anyway and bumping into her alongside J is not enjoyable to say the least, mainly due to the odd atmosphere you hope his daughter won’t notice.

“Hi daddy,” Emma pulls her chair and you take a seat by her muttering a faint hello.

“Hey kid!... … Miss Crane,” he sneers and you intensely stare at the menu in front of you without blinking.  

“I didn’t see you in forever,” Mara addresses you and you indifferently glare at her. “I must say you look terrific: you are glowing! What’s your secret?” she snickers and you duly inform:

“I’m dying. I’m sure you remember I have terminal cancer; my dad makes my meds and they do help somewhat, thus the glow.”

“As long as you’re not contagious,” the woman underlines and Emma gasps at her affirmation.

You smirk and reach over to touch her forearm, softly digging your nails in her skin.

“I am and now that I touched you, you’ll die too!”

You get up from the table while hearing The Joker saying something but your ears are ringing so you can’t discern a word.

“How can you say stuff like this?!” Emma reprimands and you calmly take a small ampule from your pocket, open it and pour some dust in the palm of your hand.

“I was just expressing a concern,” Mara gesticulates and you bend over, blowing the fine ashes in her face.

“What the fuck?!” she quickly brushes the ticklish powder off her cheeks, worried at your action. “What is this?!”

“Nightmare,” you scoff. “One of my father’s top products. I recently assisted him make it stronger and there’s no antidote. Don’t worry though, it won’t kill you and it will wear off in a few hours. Plus, it’s not contagious. Enjoy!” you leave the gathering and Emma follows, enraged things didn’t go as planned yet she can’t blame Y/N.

Since the restaurant is closed to the public due to his owner’s presence, there’s not a soul around besides J that can hear Mara’s terrified screams once the wicked hallucinogen kicks in: it’s called Nightmare for a good reason!

*************

6:02PM

“Knock, knock,” The Joker enters Scarecrow’s lab, already in a foul mood.

“Not a step further!” his movement gets halted. “Sterilize yourself if you want in: I’m making more capsules for Y/N,” Crane points at the numerous ingredients on the counter.

“Your lab is huge, if I stay right here…” J tries to convince Jonathan although he’s aware he has zero chances: it never succeeds but his stubbornness prompts him to fight the request each time.

“No!” your father firmly rejects the proposal. “Sterilize yourself and come help me!”

“Where’s your daughter?” The King of Gotham starts washing his hands in the sink by the glass sliding doors.

“She went to stay at the cabin. I got lectured,” your dad huffs, scolding in the next second: “You’re not done! More!” he commands and J reprises the cleaning process required by his very obliging host.

“Ugh,” he mumbles and continues. “Why did you get lectured?”

“Apparently, I buried myself in this place and she hates it. I also got threatened that if I don’t stop trying to find a remedy for her incurable disease, she’ll quit taking the current medications. I received orders to call Evelyn and beg for reconciliation also,” Scarecrow briefs a gratified King of Gotham:

“I guess we both have someone in our lives we can’t neglect,” The Joker dries his hands, puts on latex gloves and snatches an immaculate lab coat from the hanger nearby.

“What am I to do?...” Crane whispers. “Let my daughter die without trying to save her?...” then immediately snaps out of it. “Hair net!!!!” he shouts at The Joker, annoyed he’s trying to skip it.

“For God’s sake,” J complaints … still does as required. “What’s in for me in exchange for my services?”

“What do you want?”

“Two vials of your new, improved Nightmare formula. I witnessed it at work today and let me tell you, that stuff’s amazing!”

“How did you witnessed it at work?! It’s not released on the black market yet,” Jonathan carefully measures the quantities for your medicine.

“Oh, funny you should mention,” the evident sarcasm makes your father pay attention. “Y/N used it on Mara earlier today and she totally lost her mind! I had to lock her up in the pantry at the restaurant with three of my men guarding the door! She went bonkers!!!”

“Sorry,” Scarecrow’s flat tone irritates J. “I guess either you or Mara did something Y/N didn’t like. Welcome to my daughter’s shit list,” he cordially emphasizes.

“You shouldn’t talk to me like this,” The Joker fixes his green locks under the hair net. “One of these days I might become your son-in-law, you know Y/N showers me with her undivided affection.”

“Over my dead body!” Jonathan shrieks and The Clown Prince of Crime seems delighted.

“Hmmm… I can arrange that.”

“Just shut up and help me, would you? What am I paying you for?! Y/N needs more capsules; she’s almost out. Can you tell Emma to take this to her? I’m gonna let her chill, she’s still mad at me.”

“Wimp, you’re afraid to confront her,” J rolls his eyes and Scarecrow is not the one to be intimidated by his guest’s nonsense:

“Says the man that freaked out and searched the town for hours thinking his daughter run away when in fact she was asleep behind the rose bushes in the backyard at their mansion.”

“I didn’t freak out!” The Joker sulks at the unwelcomed reminder.

“Of course you didn’t,” Jonathan serenely replies. “Now fill out the capsules with the amount I already weighted and don’t mess up! I’ll verify your performance.”

“Give it a rest!” J growls. “Emma left for New York; she’ll be there for a couple of days. I’ll take this to Y/N.”

“Don’t think so,” he gets cut off. “I’ll send one of my couriers.”

“I’ll do it for free.”

“Why?”

“I have a score to settle,” J confesses to Scarecrow’s dismay. 

“If you hassle my daughter, I’ll create a plague designed only for your genes and I’ll exterminate you from this planet!”

“Imagine this is not the first time I’m threatened with a pathogen manufactured to ensure my demise,” The Joker hints even if he doesn’t have to.

“She is my daughter,” Crane explains, entirely understanding the reference. “The branch doesn't fall far from the tree; she knows I would so you’d better watch it!”

“Then you have nothing to worry about, right?” the pushy menace concentrates on his task, adamant in finding a way to see you no matter what.

**************

8:31pm

The Joker drives on the narrow path leading to the cabin, stirring left when a car coming from the opposite direction hunks at him.

“Heeeeyyyyy, Mister Joker!!!!!” someone yells and the other SUV accelerates past J’s yet he has enough time to recognize the aggravating pest: Sam aka Bane’s son. A few unpleasant phrases are grumbled regarding the encounter when another detail sets off the pissed King:

Y/N is racing towards the cabin after recognizing her best friend’s dad vehicle; you came out to say goodbye to Sam and take a walk when your idea abruptly changed.

“Are you kidding me??!!” J grinds his teeth while watching you stumble in the grass, then energetically gather yourself up and sprint inside, slamming the door behind.

“Wow!” he exclaims while parking close to the stairs, unsure on how this day will evolve; so far it goddamned sucked.

“Miss Crane,” The Joker taps at the heavy oak door. “Open up, I have your med!”

Maybe if you don’t engage he’ll leave.

“Is this how you thank me for delivering your pills?!” he gets worked up, thumping intensifying.

“Leave the package on the porch and go away!”

“Oh, she speaks!!!” J instantly snaps. “Open up, it’s cold out here!”

“No it’s not,” you call him out on his bullshit.

“You owe me apologies for what you did to Mara!” he demands, cringing at your defiance.

“Ha! When hell freezes!!!”

“What was Bane’s son doing here?” he tries a different strategy, definitely losing patience.

“None of your business!”

“I brought dinner,” J adds because that’s the last ace in his sleeve. “From the restaurant… your favorite. Aren’t you hungry?”

Does the silence mean you’re giving in?...

“Did you bring strawberry crepes too?”

“Yeah,” The Joker lies since he naturally forgot about desert.

The door faintly creeks and you unlock it, finally letting him in; you’re hesitant about your judgement and snatch the two paper bags out of his hands: the small one contains capsules, the big one harbors foam containers with the foods you like.

“Where are the crepes?” you frown at the lack of the delicious treat.

“I have this suspicion you’ve been avoiding me,” J talks about the reason he’s there without answering your question.

“I’m not…”

“Then why don’t you come to the mansion anymore, hm?”

His gaze circles the living room, involuntarily noticing the blood stained tissues in the trash can by the couch.

“Did you have another episode?” The Joker inquires. “Should I call your dad?”

“No…I’m fine…”

“Are you sure?” he insists and you unwrap the plastic utensils, sniffing.

“It’s not a big deal, it happens more and more often… I wish Emma was here,” you wipe your teary eyes and J bestows his infinite wisdom upon the young woman.

“Well, my daughter’s not here and I’m not renowned for making people feel better,” he twists the cap of the bottled water near him. He takes a sip then gives the container to the confused Y/N. “I’m not sure if this will help, but you can touch something my lips touched.”

You smile at his offer, kind of happy he’s using one of your catchy lines.

“What’s this? Reversed flirting?” you pout and drink from the bottle, placing it on the table afterwards.

He doesn’t bother to respond besides apathetically mentioning:

“I’ll spend the night; it’s dark outside and I don’t want to end up in a ditch.”

“It’s summertime, still sunny,” you highlight the indisputable truth to a guy that couldn’t care less.

“I’m tired. Crane pressured me to work! Did you know he took advantage of my kindness and made me sink a couple of hours in his project? What project you ask?” J cracks his neck although you weren’t curious. “I helped made your treatment,” he blurs out and your blank attitude irks The Clown. “You can compensate me by letting me crash here for the night.”

“I’m 100% sure my dad already compensated your efforts,” Y/N utters.

“Why was Sam here?” the earlier question is reprised in order to distract you.

“Are you jealous?” you nibble on your lasagna and J snarls:

“Why would I be jealous?”

“Then why do you have to know?”

“Professional interest,” the vague disclosure scores absolutely no credits with the feisty Y/N.

“That’s a huuuge load of baloney,” you shake your head and decide to unravel the mystery. “He picked up an item for his father. Don’t worry, you’re still my favorite,” you tease and The Joker protests.

“I’m not worried! I don’t even care! Can I sleep here?” he switches the topic and has to boast: “We can party all night long like we did last time!” J sassily reveals; he believes you’ll mock yet it’s not the case.

“You’re very late to this party…” your voice dies out and The King of Gotham is aware what you’re referring to. He digs his fork in the fresh salad, reassuring on a whim:

“Better late than never…”

 Also read: MASTERLIST

[yellowfoot-06]

Why you should read Cucumber Quest

      So it is currently 2 am in the morning and I decided to write an essay. I may put this in draft form and continue if I get too tired. This will probably be less me trying to convince you to read it and more me gushing about Cucumber Quest. This is also just me distracting myself from what is happening with it right now.  There will be no pictures but just me referencing pages of it because I am on the computer so it is hard for me to put in pictures compared to Mobile. More under the cut if you care for this and link if I was somehow able to convince you to read this underrated comic.

https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

Main Details

      This section is just a simple overview of the comic and I will elaborate more in the Character/Story section. The comic is about a little flat planet called Dreamside. The pancake planet is inhabited by bunny people and like, some pigs in one country/kingdom. An alien named Queen Cordelia has taken over the Donut kingdom and is trying to collect the Disaster stones to summon the Nightmare Knight, an ancient evil that used to destroy Dreamside 500,000 years ago (And the Dreamsiders somehow haven’t technologically advance in half a million years using the theming of two characters) Anyways, now it is up to Cucumber and his sister, Almond, along with two other characters to help defeat her and save dreamside! You should probably read Cucumber Quest and come back after reading the prologue and Chapter 0 (Also the beginning of chapter 1 for good measure) because there is some suspense there that is hard to not spoil when talking about the story and characters.

Art Work

        Anyways, here is an entire section about the artwork and designs alone because of how beautiful it is. The artwork is probably all you need to know before reading the comic. Page 804 is probably a good non-spoilery example of the artwork. You can also see the gradual improvement in the artwork if you compare the artwork from prologue to (currently the latest chapter) chapter 5. It makes sense to see the artwork progress because it is 9 years old (since I’m writing this) and it is still going on. In the printed version (which only goes to chapter 3 for now) You might notice that the artist/author, Gigi D.G., Redrew some of the pages. The printed version also has some exclusive stuff in it if you want.                                                                                                                         

        The character designs are another plus. Now they are very visually pleasing because of the colours used for them. They all have nice and soft colour schemes. Most of the characters also all are the same species say for the antagonists and some other characters. This kinda separates the villains from the protagonists (The antagonists also have different speech bubbles and some of them have this thing where the style slightly changes when they come on screen with the protagonists). The setting kinda makes everyone's designs unique yet fitting (There is literally a character that is just a giant black circle and she somehow fits). On the side note of unique character designs, even when the color schemes _and _outfits change on the characters change, you can still see that it is them based on the designs and personalities. Pages 346 and 349 are good examples of this yet slightly spoilery. Other good examples are basically the entirety of chapter 5.

Characters/ Story

       I mashed both the characters and story section into one because the characters are the ones moving the story along and it is kinda hard talking about one without talking about the other. Anyways, let’s talk about the protagonists, Almond, Cucumber, Sir Carrot, and Nautilus. You can also put the antagonists in the protagonists territory because of how well written they are.                           

       Cucumber is a great main protagonist because of his ideals. His character is slightly cliche, you know, the nerd preteen (At least I think he is that age range) has to now save the world and he doesn’t want to do it. Now there is no real “Oh, I don’t think he can do it” in there but he does have an idea of pacifying the antagonists and everyone thinks that is a silly Idea except for Nautilus. Now, Gigi puts a twist on the second part by making him slightly possessive of this idea. So much in fact that he kinda ignores the people around him. He tries to pacify the Nightmare Knight in chapter 3, it was working until Almond comes along and ruins it. Now, the Nightmare Knight scares them with a near-death experience. They talk about it now shook, and Cucumber now sees Almond crying and realizes that she was just trying to protect him. From the outside view, it seems like the antagonists are awful monsters, so it looks like Cucumber is needlessly endangering himself when the better answer would be to stab them all to death. I just love this twist and how he becomes more insensitive to others when trying to sympathetic to the antagonists. The end of chapter 5 is also a good part of Cucumber’s ark when he believes in an assumption and starting less to believe in his own cause.                                      

              Almond also has a great story ark in this comic. In the beginning, she is cocky and believes that saving the world is just gonna be a nice adventure like in the tv shows she watches. She is actually the main reason they are on the adventure, to begin with. Her stubbornness and cockiness starts to dilate the further she is on this adventure and when she sees the real danger that is happening. In chapter 4 this is brought up by Cucumber. She still has some of her beginning ark in her but now it seems like it is a mask that she puts on.        

           The other two protagonists are Princess Nautilus and Sir Carrot. Sir Carrot came into the story before Nautilus so I’ll talk about him first. Sir Carrot is just a simple knight that wanted to help two bakers out. He is not really interesting compared to the others. At the beginning of the story he was scared by everything but you can really see a reason begin to form in chapter 3 and onwards. He has a really interesting dynamic with the Nightmare Knight and with some other characters. The final protagonist in the group, and my personal favorite, is Princess Nautilus! She is probably the funniest and most comedic out of the three. Her comedic shenanigans make me laugh a whole lot. There are only two characters that make me happier when I see them. She hardly changes in the story, the only real changes that happen is that her comedy starts to dwindle as the story progressed. A big part of her ark is a little eel named Liquus. They have such a cute dynamic together that started to dwindle more after chapter 3.                                                                                               

       Now, time for the most interesting characters, the antagonists. The first villains we see are Queen Cordelia and Peridot (pronounced Peridoh). They have a nice and cute familial connection. Cordelia is stubborn and confident. She is a cat from an alien planet that came to conquer Dreamside with the help of the Nightmare Knight. When Cordelia summoned the Nightmare Knight, her confidence starts to break as she sees his power. She seems to be a powerful conqueror with confidence in her actions, so seeing her in fear is a slight surprise as summoning the Nightmare Knight in the first place was her idea. When she interacts with Peridot, she is calm and motherly, another thing that separates her from her average personality. The Nightmare Knight is also very intriguing because he is basically stuck in a place he can’t escape from as both sides are antagonizing him and he has this cycle but it can’t keep going on forever and with fears of what happened before and-                                             

         Great, now that we got all the other characters off the plate (except for the side characters) now we can talk about the best characters (in my opinion) the Disaster Masters! This is where the gushing really begins! They are the most interesting when you think about the logistics of each character and the cycle they have been. I can’t talk about every character since there are 8 and this section is already extremely lengthy. So I am speeding through each of these. Splashmaster: adorable but not really interesting. Ya Boi: great and the first example to show that everything is not completely what it seems. Mutemaster: probably the most forgettable and gets over shined by Ya Boi. Rosemaster: Oh ho ho! This is where the story starts to turn darker and she is a really good character, her chapter might be one of the best. Thebestmaster: Name says it all, he is the best and if you say otherwise I will personally stab you through the screen. Quakemaster: Same as Splashmaster, except replace adorable with menacing. Mistmaster: Terrifying and even more so if you think about what happened to him. Glitchmaster: You know about the circle I talked about earlier? Yeah, that's her. She is a lot more spooky with context.                            

         Woohoo! This is (hopefully) the last paragraph of the section! The side characters are where the comedy mainly lays on. These characters are very wide-ranged. You have characters such as psychopathic 10-year-old, realistic Rabbit, and a bunch of crabs. These characters are normally comedic and a great part of the story. Some characters are more important like Cosmo, the psychopathic 10-year-old. Other characters are just jerks jokes like Cucumber’s father. Even though some aren’t important, all of them are likable/enjoyable.

Final

     Finally! If you read the entirety of this, then uhh, you read it! Here is a link to  a Youtube video that is a lot shorter and more concise than this essay, and the link to the comic again: 

Video: https://youtu.be/4uiO9ZKj2HE

Comic: https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

[onewaywardwitch]

Just A Typo (8/?)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Hacker!Reader

Summary: It was a simple challenge between a very competitive group of friends. A challenge that ended very differently than anticipated.

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 2369

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have any Haribos this time. The woman just glared at me when I asked, and I didn’t think it was wise to ask a second time. Instead, I just had to work jelly ring-less.

She kept a close eye on me. Her breath was tickling the back of my neck as I opened up the screen I was so used to seeing in order to hack into Starks. The lines and line of code began to blur into one, my fingers flying across the keyboard.

I just hoped this would work. That it would somehow catch the Avengers attention and they’d come in, guns blazing and shields flying.

It wasn’t long until I came across a screen I was all too familiar with. One I designed myself to stop people in my current position. And I knew I would have to slow myself down. It would be nearly impossible for even me to break through, but I couldn’t even try. I couldn’t run the risk of successfully giving my kidnappers exactly what they wanted. So I delayed. I purposely made mistakes, causing myself to be taken back a few steps of the process. I just had to hang on a little longer, then I would reach the sections of code I needed.

There. Got it. My captor stood watch, but it was obvious she had no clue what I was doing. I could have been ordering a lifetime supply of Haribos, charged to her account, and she would never have realised. It didn’t matter though. All I had to do was just attempt to breach the next few lines of code and the Avengers would be sent an immediate alert that they were being hacked.

“What’s taking so long?” She asked impatiently, not impressed with how long I was taking.

“After I hacked into them the first time, Stark made sure to up his security. It's definitely not as easy as it was before,” I replied. I swallowed nervously as I moved past that section of code. If my program worked correctly, it should be hacking into the computer I was on now in order to send my current location to the team.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. We’re going to stay here until you’ve completed your task.”

Perfect, I should be able to buy them enough time to get to me. Hopefully.

~~~~~

Angie and Becca were currently being looked after by the staff in the tower. The team agreed to keep them nearby in case they became targets as well. They weren’t thrilled about having to put their life on hold, but it only took a quick little chat with Steve before they complied.

Bucky was doing his best, but there wasn’t much he could do. Tony, Bruce and Nat were all doing… something technological related, to try and find Y/N. He still didn’t fully understand 21st century gadgets. That’s why him and Steve were looking through Hydra files they already had, hoping to get some indication of where they might have taken her, if it was Hydra they were dealing with.

“We’re going to find her. You know that, don’t you,” Steve asked as he opened up yet another file.

Bucky glanced up at him. “Yeah, I know.”

He looked back down while Steve just furrowed his brow at him. He had more to say on the subject and knew that Bucky was just waiting for him to start up again.

Steve opened his mouth to speak.

“Don’t you say another word.”

“But- “

“I don’t want to hear your bullshit.”

“Seriously I- “

“I'm gonna hit you.”

“Bucky- “

“With the metal arm this time.”

“Would you shut up for two seconds?” Steve groaned, throwing the file onto the table. He crossed him arms, glaring at his friend. Bucky held up one finger, then a second.

“Times up.”

“Oh for the love of- “

Steve got a heavy beige file thrown into his face and a smirking Bucky across the table.

“Instead of acting like a six-year-old, maybe you could grow up and start thinking about how you’re going to ask Y/N out when we get her back here.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Bucky scoffed. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you're practically in love with her and would do anything for her. Because everyone except the two of you can see how head over heels you are. Because you become a flustering mess every time you're around her.”

“Alright, I get it.” Bucky turned back to the files scattered across the table and picked a random one to search through. He mulled over Steve’s words. He did like Y/N, that was undeniable. And he wanted to ask her out. Desperately so. She was ridiculously funny, and he found her excitement over everything endearing. But he wasn’t the same person he was seventy years ago. The fall had changed him. Everything that came afterwards had changed him. Before he would have had no problem asking a woman out. Now he could barely string a sentence together in front of Y/N without looking like an idiot. He couldn’t just pretend he was the same man with the same personality. But he knew if he didn’t figure out a way to ask her out and soon, both Steve and Sam would be on his back putting him under pressure to do so.

Their conversation was interrupted by F.R.I.D.A.Y. announcing an immediate meeting in the briefing room called by Tony.

“Don’t think we’re done talking about this,” Steve warned him as they both left the room hastily.

~~~~~

Tony wasted no time telling the team that they were being hacked. Again. He also explained that it was most likely Y/N trying to see if the system she installed earlier would actually work and give them her location.

“Luckily for us, she works efficiently. It should be nearly done by now.”

They stood as Tony threw up a screen showing the progress of Y/N's decoding program. They watched on in anticipation as location after location popped up on the screen, only to be marked with an ‘X’ and disappear seconds later. Another screen beside that displayed the hundreds of lines of code that were being used to block the outside attack. Most of the team had no idea what any of it meant, but Tony and Natasha were in awe. They were brilliant hackers themselves, Tony having hacked into Pentagon when he was only a child. And Nat was simply one of those people who were annoyingly good at everything they did. Yet they found themselves struggling to keep up with Y/N's work. They couldn’t understand how she remained under everyone’s radar for so long. She wasn’t one to flaunt the skills she had, but it was clear to all of the Avengers present that she was far better than she had been letting on before.

Just as their eyes started spinning from the constantly changing numbers, the screens froze. The one with the codes went black completely, having effectively stopped whoever was on the other side. The first screen was nearly blank too, displaying just a single location now; Leipzig, Germany.

The atmosphere in the room had changed. Nervousness had been replaced by determination, each person ready for the mission ahead.

“Alright, everyone suit up. We leave in five,” Steve ordered.

~~~~~

Blocked. Completely shut out. I didn’t know whether it meant I was really good or really bad that I had been blocked out of my own system. Of course, that was exactly what I was hoping for. I needed to not gain access to the tower and also give myself time to be hacked into so the Avengers would know where to find me.

The woman shook her head in frustration and slapped her hand on the table.

“Try again.”

“I already told you,” I huffed. ”They’ve improved on the original design of the security system. It's basically impossible to break through.”

“You're supposed to be one of the greatest hackers in the world, how can you not do this?” She hissed.

“Well, y’know, it is Tony Stark,” I said slowly, not thinking it necessary to tell her I was being stopped by myself.

“Go again,” she snapped, giving me a threatening look when I huffed in reply.

I carried on, basically repeating exactly what I had done before. She didn’t notice. Surprise surprise, I was blocked out again. And again. And for a fourth time.

She was fuming, her face an unusual shade of red and knuckles white with how tightly she gripped the table edge. I was just hoping the Avengers were already on their way to get me, because one more failed attempt and I had a feeling this woman would throw me through the door.

Halfway through a very boring fifth try of the exact same thing, she froze, staring at the door. It took me a moment to realise the absence of her sticky breath on my neck, by which time she had already made her way to behind the door. Her hand hovered over her pocket, presumably where her weapon was currently stored. Her other hand was pressed against her ear. She must have been wearing a comms I didn’t notice before, as she began speaking into it in a low voice.

A crash from outside of the door made us both jump. Her eyes were fixated on the door, her hands twitching slightly. It was that tiny twitch that gave me more confidence. She was scared. Maybe it was the Avengers. Maybe it was just some lunatic on drugs causing chaos around the place. Either way, her fear provided me with the belief that I had a chance of getting out.

I stood up slowly, carefully, making sure not to scrape the chair against the floor as I had done numerous times before. I didn’t take my eyes off her, looking for any change in posture that would inform me I was caught. She remained in the same position. She was still talking to someone and hadn’t noticed my movements. I grasped the laptop tightly, holding it against my chest as I moved towards her.

Ok, deep breaths. No big deal, you're just going to knock her out. Pretend it’s one of those ‘whack-a-mole’ games. And… now!

A squeak escaped my lips as I brought the laptop above my head before crashing it down on top of my captor’s head. She collapsed to the ground instantly, groaning slightly. My eyes widened and I hit her again to make sure she was unconscious. Judging by the unnatural position she had fallen into, I assumed I was safe. From her at least.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, I just knocked her out,” I whispered faintly, running my free hand painfully through my straggly and extremely knotty hair. I glanced at my other hand which held the remains of the laptop. It was clearly a high-quality laptop, but apparently not built for hitting people. Only scraps of it remained in my hand, some of it still connected by a few wires dangling down.

“Ugh.” I glared at the woman on the ground. “Look what you’ve done. That was a really nice laptop.”

I almost forgot about what was going on outside the door until it began to open. I raised the remnants of the laptop, prepared to attack someone else with my makeshift weapon.

“Woah, kid! Put down the… I don’t even know what that is. What the hell have you got there?”

I lunged at Tony- or rather, at his suit.

“I know I'm just hugging a metal suit but it's surprisingly comforting,” I said, my voice muffled by the suit. He gave me a half hug back, as much as his suit would allow.

“Good to see you too, but unless you plan on sporting a lovely bullet hole to my next party, we should get going.”

Before we even got the chance to take a step, we heard gunshots from a corridor nearby. Moments later, Bucky came running down towards us. I grinned and waved at him, as if he hadn’t already seen us.

“Shut up,” I muttered lowly to Tony. He turned to me.

“I literally did not say a single word and you can’t see my face through this.”

“Yeah but I know what you're thinking- Bucky, hi!” I blurted out.

He chuckled at my reaction and greeted me back before asking Tony what the new plan was, because apparently their old plan went to shit. What a surprise.

Steve must have called out new orders to the team because the next thing I knew, I was being hauled by Bucky down the stairs.

“Keep close, doll.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. You smell nice by the way.”

He stuttered and looked at me, completely flabbergasted. I stared back at him in shock.

“I did not mean to say that. Not out loud, at least.”

I just averted eye contact with him, and no other words were exchanged as we ran down the stairs.

Great. You had to make it weird.

We went to turn around a corner, both of us running at full speed, before Bucky threw his arm out and flung me backwards. I didn’t get a chance to ask what the hell he did that for, as he raised his gun and began shooting at people I couldn’t see. I ducked behind him, covering my eyes with my hands as if that would shield me from any bullets flying my way.

“Hey, we’re good.”

I peered out at Bucky from behind the safety of my hands. He was crouched on the ground in front of me, gun casually slung over his shoulder. It was almost unnerving how intensely he was staring at me and it caused shivers down my spine. His eyes were as soft as his voice and he rested him hand reassuringly on my shoulder. I appreciated how much he was trying to stop me from freaking out. I nodded my head and he grabbed a hold of my arm, tugging me up gently.

“Lets finally get you out of this hell-hole, yeah?”

Taglist (open):

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[murasaki-murasame]

After doing way too many summons on this gala without getting Gala Elly I’m just gonna quit while I’m ahead and start hoarding for the New Years banner, lol. And in the mean-time I’ll probably be skipping the Christmas banner so that kinda sucks but oh well.

Either way, I still got a whole bunch of new stuff in my gala summons, and also I have a lot of thoughts about the new This Month in DL post, so I’ll just put the rest of my thoughts under the cut.

I swear to god this gala was the most summons I’ve done on a banner without getting a focus unit, lmao. This must be punishment for me getting like three copies of Gala Euden last time. I think I did like 250 summons total, which included over 10 5-stars, but no Gala Elly. I may or may not end up caving to my temptations and grinding adventurer stories and hard mode campaign levels to try and summon more, but I should just quit while I’m ahead.

Either way, my haul of 5-stars, new and dupes, is:

-Gala Ranzal

-Wedding Elly

-Xanfried

-Lea

-Jeanne

-Chthonius

-Dupes of B-Zardin, Victor,  Sylas, Cassandra, Gala Sarisse, Shinobi, Vayu, and Long Long [x2]. I also got another dupe Shinobi from the 5-star dragon voucher thing they just gave us.

Let’s just say that I don’t know how to feel about wanting Gala Elly and then getting Gala Ranzal + Wedding Elly, lmao. At least they’re both new units for me. Though it feels doubly bad that I got Gala Ranzal, 45MC’d him, and then almost immediately afterward I got Wedding Elly. Welp. I’m a Noelle main in eHMC anyway so it’s not a huge deal. But it’s nice to get my wind roster fleshed out more.

I’m honestly really happy about getting Xanfried, and it more or less makes up for not getting Gala Elly. He was one of those 5-stars who I was vaguely tempted to dream summon because it was bugging me that I still didn’t have him. Now I think the only launch 5-star I don’t have is Hildegarde.

I’m also happy about getting Lea, even if she isn’t a great unit and I have like six other flame swords. I really like her whole design aesthetic.

I don’t really care much about the new 5-star dragons I got, but they’re nice to have. The Long Long dupes are nice, though, since now I have a nearly MUB one for my Lin You.

Oh and I got regular Aeleen as well, and she was the last non-limited 4-star I needed to get, so that’s cool.

We’ve known about the next banner for a while because of datamines, but either way, I feel a little bit salty that the new 5-star is literally just Thaniel But Better [tm], lol. If it weren’t for the fact that Chocolatiers is a limited print, I’d say that she wouldn’t even be worth it when Thaniel’s a more accessible option who works just fine in HBH because the whole fight is literally tuned around his kit since until now he’s been the only real healer for it. I hope this doesn’t lead to people acting like Thaniel’s not good enough for eHBH anymore once Jiang Ziya comes out. I’ve invested way too much into him to switch. I did recently craft the HDT water spear, and I can use my H-Maritimus on Elly if I want to use her in eHBH, but I still want to stick to Thaniel.

And on that note my H-Maritimus is at 2UB, and between the sunlight stone we’ll get soon from the Megaman event, and the dragons I have at nearly max bond level, he’ll probably be MUB soon, which should push my Thaniel above 7k might, which will be great. He’s currently at about 6,850 might, between him having +200 augments, Chocolatiers at +190 augments, a MUB HDT1 water staff, etc etc. And we’re gonna be getting the Christmas event facility again soon so that’ll boost him up even further.

Also I’m really not interested in the new dragon since he’s just water Hastur and I don’t care about that at all, lol. Durant seems cool but I already have a 50MC Natalie, and he’s a 4-star so he’d be easy enough to get off-banner anyway.

I’m gonna probably skip the Christmas banner since I went all in on this gala and I want to save for the New Years banner. And since it looks like the Christmas banner will be in just a week or so, I won’t exactly have many resources saved up by that point anyway. I’m not really interested in any of the existing Christmas alts, though, so it’d probably be an easy skip anyway, unless the new ones really interest me.

I hope that them doing the Christmas rerun stuff earlier in the month than I expected means we might get a Christmas-themed raid event afterward, but I won’t get my hopes up. I think we’re due for a new raid event anyway, but that’ll probably be what the New Years event is anyway, I guess.

I’m curious to see how they handle the New Years stuff, since it’d feel weird to rerun the Ieyasu event/banner, with how that was themed around the current zodiac year. I think we’ll just get a new event with new units, and probably a new welfare unit along with the event itself. With how good Ieyasu was [and how salty I still am about not having him], I think it’ll be worth saving for that.

Though considering that the next story chapter is gonna apparently be Luca-focused, I’m guessing the January gala unit will be Gala Luca, who I’d be extremely interested in, so that’s another thing to worry about saving for, lol.

And on that note we’re getting Chapter 11 in about two weeks, and even though we got more or less the same teaser description for it as last time, we at least have a better look at the two new android characters. Even though they’re gonna be antagonists I still kinda hope we can get them as playable units some day.

We also got more info on the new endgame boss mode, and even though I still want more specific details about it, my current guess is that it’s basically going to be High IO. It’ll probably be themed around there being new android military squads to fight against, with the new bosses being their leaders or whatever. It’d be fun to get some genuinely difficult wave-based content, but it’d also be great if it means we can get facility upgrade materials a lot faster.

The reveal of the new mode being called The Agito Uprising also more or less confirms that rumour that’s been going around for a while, which also talked about how the Christmas banner would include a new Christmas Phoenix alt, that the new endgame bosses would drop 6-star weapons, that we’ll get a Monster Hunter collab in February, and that Mikoto, Ezelith, Naveed, and Xanfried will be at least some of the first units to get their sixth mana circle upgrades.

I’m honestly kinda happy to hear about Christmas Phoenix since that makes it more likely that the Christmas banner will be an easy skip for me, lmao. But anyway, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see the Agito Uprising bosses dropping weapons that are roughly between 5t3s and HDT weapons in power. we really need something like that to ease the transition into the eHDT cycle. I’ve basically given up on getting into eHJP/eHZD until something along those lines happens to make them more accessible, lol.

I still have a lot of questions about how the whole sixth mana circle upgrade thing will work, and sadly this didn’t really tell us anything new, but they at least said that they’re aware of how limited the pool of units used in endgame content is, and that they’ll try and make changes to make more units viable for that, so that’ll probably be the main point of the sixth mana circles. I have a feeling that only 5-star units will end up getting them, which would kinda suck. There’s a lot of 5-stars who need an upgrade, but there’s also a lot of other units who need an upgrade too.

They did mention that they’ll be doing something with 3-star units in general, though, so I’m really curious about that. I really really want them to rebalance 3-star units so that they all have 100% on-element status resistances. I could take or leave anything else, but they really need that sort of buff. There’s no real point to holding back a unit by giving them incomplete or off-element status resistances. Which also applies to welfare 4-stars. For example, my Xania would be way more viable in eHMS if she can get to 100% stun res without needing a print, and it’d just be great in general if Vixel could get an actually relevant status resistance for his element. I have a feeling they won’t change anything else about their kits, but even just that’d be nice.

My realistic prediction for what the sixth mana circle upgrades will actually include is that it’ll more or less just be more of what we already have with the current ones. It’ll probably just be a few flat stat upgrades, maybe some more coability node upgrades, and one or two upgrades to the skills/abilities of each unit. At the very least I think that units will get a third upgrade to their S2, since those only go up to two upgrade tiers whereas every unit gets three tiers to their S1. And there’s a lot they could do to improve units by buffing and adding stuff to their S2s. For example, Thaniel would really benefit from getting a regen heal added to his S2, but Jiang Ziya existing makes me think they’re just forgetting about Thaniel for good. I can’t really think of what they could do with any of the 5-stars, though. It’s possible but less likely that some units might also get upgrades to one of their abilities, but that’s a bit more uncertain than them getting skill upgrades, if only because there’s a lot of ability types that you just can’t upgrade at all, like 100% status resistance or skill prep abilities.

It’d be really nice if they changed the second ability of 3-stars to 100% status resistance and gave them something entirely new for their third ability, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just buff the 25% status resistance abilities of those units to 50% status resistance.

Also, we got more details about how we’re getting higher-level void battles added, and higher difficulties added to the void dragons, which I think is a necessary addition in order to help bridge the gap toward endgame content. As it is now, void battles aren’t really worth doing outside of endeavors. But it’s also nice that they’ve added augments to the void dragons and stuff.

In general they’d been making a lot of steps toward easing the progression toward endgame content, especially with the other changes they made to Avenue to Fortune, and them also adding augments to HDT drops. It’s nice that they’re aware of the issue of how steep the progression curve is right now, but it also really makes it clear that it’s a genuine problem that they’re currently being stuck trying to fix. I don’t really blame them for it, though. These things happen with games like this. I’m just glad that they’re actually addressing it instead of leaving it unchanged.

It’ll sadly take a while for them to add all of the new void bosses on the same tier as the Volcanic Chimera, but it’ll be nice to eventually have more accessible options to get into other eHDTs and stuff.

Anyway a whole bunch has been going on lately and I think it’s on a good track. Honestly my biggest issue right now is that since they changed the UI I keep clicking the wrong buttons when I’m trying to go between menus, lmao.

Oh and yeah the Megaman event is a thing that’s happening. There’s really not a lot to say about it because it’s so barebones and gameplay-focused, but it’s fun, and I like how much they’re leaning into the aesthetic of it. Megaman himself is a really goddamn weird unit, though. I like how much he’s apparently designed to play like he’s in an actual Megaman game, but it’s a weird playstyle to get used to for this game. And I still prefer Xania as a flame wand, lol.

[rogue-barnes-16]

CAREFUL, SWEETHEART (part IX/?)

Summary: sadness and alcohol can lead us to make a mess of a situation, and a mess can lead us to the biggest mistakes, but can the biggest mistakes lead to something else?

Pairing: Tony Stark x enhanced young!Reader

Genre: angst-fluff (with a bit of fun)

Tags:

Careful, sweetheart:

@tone-stark @mugglebucky @sofreakinmanyfandoms @cryforfandoms @lilulo-12 @rebeccaitsnotwhatyouthink @vxidnik @edwisenpai

Permanent taglist:

@notexactlythatgirl @thisismysecrethappyplace

Warnings: language, mentions of injuries (this part is lame, sorry guys)

A/N: remember when I said there were just 1-3 parts left? Well I'm not sure anymore lol. Just enjoy my chaotic series, sweethearts (^3^). Feedback is always appreciated <3.

Careful, sweetheart masterlist

Rogue-barnes-16 masterlist

TONY'S P. O. V.

“... Tony. I’m sorry for...”

“... I promise... ever again. Not even...”

“... said ‘I love you’, I meant it...”

“... sweetheart.”

I opened my eyes slowly, just to shut them again due to the painfully bright light of the room. I rolled to my side, wincing in pain. Goddammit every part of my body hurt.

I opened my eyes again, and this time I noticed it wasn't a bright light, it was just the sunlight.

I blinked a couple of times, thinking about what I heard. It had seemed Y/n's voice, but I highly doubted it. Maybe it wasn't even real, maybe I dreamt it. "Good Morning, Tony."

"Doctor Cho" I greeted her. I had to have been in a very critical condition if Dr. Helen Cho herself came to the compound. I tried to turn around again, but I was feeling too much pain. "so... That bad, huh?"

Helen walking to the opposite side of the room, so she was able to see my face. "well, it sure wasn't a scratch." for her scolding tone, I could tell she wasn't in the mood for a joke. "you fractured your cheekbone, badly." she added the last word looking into my eyes. "you even needed stitches. You also had two fractured ribs and a thoracic contusion."

I scoffed, which was a bad idea, since it only made my pain increase. "just a fractured cheekbone and a couple of bruises?" she darted me a deadly glance. "c'mon Cho, I came back with much worse things than that"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing tiredly. "you had internal bleeding and an almost second-degree burn over your ribcage."

"wait" I frowned, placing my hand over my side, feeling the bandages covering said burn. I understood the fractured ribs and cheekbone, and even the thoracic contusion. I didn't really know why I had had internal bleeding, but the weirdest thing was the burn. "what exactly happened to me?"

Helen started to write down some things, checking her tablet while doing it. "Sergeant Barnes told me your suit shut down, and Wanda had to stop you from crashing. However, she ended up throwing you into a lake." she explained distractedly.

"what about the- fuck!" I hissed, trying to sit up and failing. Helen sent me a warning glance before going back to her notes. "what about the burn."

She shrugged, turning of a couple of devices in the room. "they didn't say anything" she walked to the door, disappearing from my view. "God morning, Natasha"

"Morning Helen" Natasha said. "is he awake?" I guess Dr. Cho nodded in response, because Natasha murmured an 'Okay' before I heard the door closing, followed by a few steps toward the bed. "you gave us quite a scare."

Natasha sat down in front of me, and I just grinned. "isn't it my whole purpose?" I asked jokingly, but I just earned a sad smile from her. "how did I get the burn?" I asked, every joking tone fading from my voice.

Natasha crossed her arms loosely, leaning slightly and resting her elbows against her thighs. "you were choking, so Y/n and Barnes broke your suit." I knew there was more, so I just waited for her to finish. "Y/n had to use her pyrokinesis, and her hands reached your skin."

"Oh" she had saved me. I didn't care if I had a burn, she had saved my life. Maybe, after all, I didn't imagine those words. Maybe Y/n had come here, and maybe, just maybe, she had said those three words.

"Anyway" Natasha got up from the chair smiling at me "you have to rest. Doctor Cho said you had to stay here for a few days" as soon as she said that, she made her way towards the door.

"Natasha" I heard her steps stop, and a questioning hum coming from her. "has Y/n come to see me?"

There was a few silent seconds before she replied. "No. She went to her room as soon as we came back."

Okay, so I had dreamt it. I don't know what I was expecting, though. After all, I had pushed her away, I had shut her out, and I had avoided her for a long while.

She probably had moved on, since it was supposed to be something temporary, something passing. We weren't supposed to fall for each other.

But I had fallen so damn hard for her, and I didn't even know when. Maybe she figured it out, and that's why she didn't try to talk to me again, she was really smart after all.

"Okay" I said, closing my eyes "thanks Natasha"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did Helen let you get to work already?" Bruce asked. He came in to the lab with a frown showing up in his face.

"Nope" I stated plainly, discarding one of the parts of the hologram's left side. "But I don't work for her. I'm a free man who makes his own decisions"

"what the..." I glanced at Bruce, catching a glimpse of his shocked face "Tony, are you listening to yourself?" he got closer to me, however, I didn't look at him, but I noticed how he stared at my current project "that's Y/n's suit?" he asked confused. "I thought you updated it a couple of weeks ago."

I darted a glance at him "are you spying me now, Banner?" I questioned, more bitter than I meant to. "Sorry. Yeah, I did, but it needs more improvements" I explained distractedly redirecting my attention to the now incomplete design. "Wilson took her to the medbay this morning. He said one of her suit's external protections got burnt"

I saw how Bruce opened and closed his mouth a few times. "how do you know that? I mean- you know- I" he sighed, walking to his own work space "I thought you two didn't talk anymore?"

"we don't" I tried to sound emotionless about it, I tried to sound like I didn't care if we talked or not. And I prayed for Bruce not to notice. "I just saw her there when Cho was checking my stitches."

A few minutes passed by in a comfortable silence, until Bruce broke it "You know, I think you should talk with her." I looked up confused. "with Y/n, I mean."

"That's not happening" I replied, finishing with Y/n's suit and starting with Steve's shield's new prototype.

"you two are so..." Bruce let out a tired sigh. "you know, maybe she's just feeling guilty because she caused you a second-degree burn." he kept talking, turning on his laptop. "so go and talk with her." he stared at me before speaking again. "Now, Tony. Go to talk with her now."

I nodded, leaving the prototype over my table, and heading out of the lab, walking to Y/n's room. Probably Bruce was right. Probably she was feeling guilty and I was being an ass by ignoring her.

I knew talking to her would be awkward, but before anything else, she was my friend, and friends are there for each other.

I knocked her door a couple of times before she answered. "it's open" I took a deep breath before turning the knob and pushing the door, getting in her room.

I didn't look at her. Not while I was getting inside, because I knew if I did, I would probably back out, and I couldn't.

So when I closed the door, I turned around, realizing she had her eyes closed. It was logical, she was probably resting since she had gotten hurt earlier that day.

"Hey, sweetheart"

[kiederen]

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE review

I said I would give my impressions on #FE and I neglected to do so till now, but better late than never.

I’ll be talking about:

Story

Setting/Theme

Characters

Gameplay

1. Story

The story is nothing special - I enjoyed it, but it's a fairly typical jrpg "power of friendship and bonds" deal that is only made unique in any capacity by the idol culture that frames it. It's not bad, but it's not groundbreaking either. I wish the story were a bit longer to give more of a build up into the final confrontation. The earlier stages slowly start to set things up but even just one more dedicated chapter to ease into the final arc would have probably made the ending feel less rushed. That and I just enjoyed playing it overall and would liked more content.

The distinct chapters format to the flow may have been meant to simulate FE chapters while still also representing how persona stories often have noticeable breaks between dungeon arcs. In TMS though, it felt a bit more artificial, not damningly so, but I think the plot momentum was a bit worse for it. 

The set up for each chapter break also revolves around Itsuki himself improving as an entertainer, even though he doesn’t know what direction he wants to focus on, and while it’s most emphasized early on, this aspect of Itsuki’s development himself feels almost abandoned or ignored through the mid and late game until the very end. The solution does make some sense, but some of the details that enable it to happen are a bit questionably contrived, and like the overall story, it felt a bit rushed in the final hour, based on what I remember.

Otherwise, the story did a good job of setting itself up, providing the characters with adequate motivation and means to seek the goals they set and each dungeon gave reasonable purpose for the main characters to tackle it.

The final chapter seemed to be trying to make up for the lack of build up by twisting and turning a bit more than usual, but most of its attempted twists were fairly standard fair for trying to draw out suspense and unfortunately were somewhat predictable for it. I was a little surprised at the host for the big bad, but mostly because I hadn’t been paying close enough attention so that was on me.

2. Setting/Theme

The Tokyo idol scene setting is the most interesting aspect of the story and while I can see it being polarizing, I found it novel myself. Mechanically, it does a good job of unifying the dungeons under a common theme of "things idols do" - such as posing for photo shoots or acting on TV.

Beyond dungeon design, the idol theme also naturally informed character designs and the multitude of costumes that appear throughout.

You can even see this thematic flair in the way that spell casting involves a character signing their autograph as a glyph!

If there’s one oddity that stands out to me about the aesthetics of the game, it’s that the monster designs seem to be unable to decide whether they should be FE inspired or SMT inspired or neither, but even in the latter case most don’t seem to fit in with the idol theme in any capacity.

Even when enemies are FE inspired, they seem to have gone through a similar (if not more extreme) filter that the Mirage characters went through - becoming dramatically stylized and the only real purpose I can conceive for it is to make enemy classes that were definitely human in FE appear non-human here. For instance, the middle and right monsters above are myrmidon class enemies - unpromoted swordmasters from the FE universe.

Not to mention: Why do their out-of-combat sprites look like Organization XIII members!?

3. Characters

Like the story, the characters are good if nothing particularly revolutionary. Most seem built around one or two tropes but then are fleshed out beyond that which is fine. You learn more about them as you do their individual side quests (social links) and these do a good job of giving the feeling of evolving your bond with that character. The pacing of the side stories is mostly okay, though the gameplay reward for those that are plot locked to be very late doesn't always feel equal to how long you had to wait to do them. There's a bit of persona syndrome wherein all the chars get plenty of opportunities to interact with the MC, but would benefit from more time interacting with each other as well.

I liked all the characters in the end. There's a good variety between both the girls and boys, though because of join times some chars got more focused screen time than others. Again, I think a longer late game with more story side quests (instead of fetch quests) would have helped balance things out. 

If I had to be as base as to rank the girls in terms of waifu ratings: 1. Eleonora 2. Tsubasa 3. Kiria 4. Maiko 5. Mamori = Tiki Though it's worth noting that top four are all really close, and each slot only wins out over their competition by a small margin. I don’t dislike Mamori or Tiki, I just am not into the little sister appeal.

I suppose Barry Goodman is worth mentioning as well. Barry is a foreigner who settled in Japan and behaviorally embodies the most cringe-worthy aspects of otaku culture. He’s heavy-set, roughly groomed, and somewhat aggressive/abrasive about his passions. I’m not one to judge him for the subject of his passions, but the way he interacts with them would make me uncomfortable around him had he been a real person. Ultimately he is a good person at heart, but his poor people skills are unlikely to endear him to anyone on first impressions, and the fact that he doesn’t care only exacerbates his problems.

Finally, and predictably most disappointingly, the FE chars (heroes and villains) are barely developed and could be replaced with persona or persona like motifs without changing the overall plot. The FE aspect is little more than a coat of paint that gives secondary theme to the invading 'otherworld,' and it's a real shame and waste of potential.

Aside from the Mirage characters and Tiki themselves, there are however a few unmarked references that are at least self aware enough to be welcome Easter eggs for fire emblem fans:

Anna is your convenience store shopkeeper, and there’s even a ‘shadow anna’ who will sell you more dubious dungeon consumables that a normal convenience store wouldn’t stock.

Ilyana works at the cafe, keeping close to her beloved food.

Aimee runs the jewelry store as she was the item store merchant in FE9 and 10

And Cath runs the costume shop. She’s a thief in FE6 with a distinct affinity for money, not unlike Anna, though not as extreme either. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve read over her supports though.

I saw an npc employee at one of the random background shops in Shibuya central street that could also be Brady from FE Awakening, but the camera never got close enough to see him clearly enough to make a positive ID.

Finally, I found it amusing that all the playable chars' names are class puns/references 

蒼井樹 = Aoi Itsuki > Aoi means blue in reference to FE lords typically having blue hair

織部つばさ = Oribe Tsubasa > Tsubasa in reference to her peg knight class

赤城斗馬 = Akagi Touma >  赤 (Aka) gives us “red” while  馬(uma) is “horse.” Red cavalier (partnered with a green cavalier) is a reoccurring archetype in FE. The Red cav tends to be the hot-headed one.

I can break down the others if desired, but these will do for examples.

4. Gameplay

Going to break this into a few parts:

General

Combat

Dungeons

1. General

The real reason this game is compared to Persona; gameplay mirrors a lot of persona's elements and it's almost easier to describe how it deviates from the Persona format than spend time detailing how they're the same. That said, if you like the persona formula (as I do), you'd probably enjoy TMS's gameplay flow as well.

While the lack of daily life and day limits for dungeons removes a lot of the tension of time management for them, I think it's fine since a lot of persona players rush dungeons in 1-2 days anyway and in TMS, once the dungeon is done, you don't have to worry about doing busy work to tick off the days until the plot is allowed to move forward again. The lack of social stats is an element of depth removed, but without a time cost element to activities, it makes sense and is probably a good thing for it to be absent from TMS (even if story wise it could have actually be viable as Aoi and the others grow their skills as performers).

Using the WiiU game pad as a smartphone screen to facilitate off-screen character interactions as well as display more detailed enemy information was clever if perhaps unnecessary (as persona 5 showed). Having the only map on the game pad actually made it a little disorienting to reference for me since my eyes had to leave my tv entirely, leading to me either holding my game pad up or bobbing my head up and down to compare my map with my surroundings. On the DS, the two screens are at least close by. I’d like to say there may have been a better use for the game pad, I’m not thinking of anything off the top of my head, so it may have been wise to minimize its use as a gimmick anyway.

This is already in your phone history when you start the game, but it’s still probably my favorite moment from the text message logs:

#relatable.

Replacing persona fusion is a more straightforward crafting system that is the source for your weapons and passive skills, and in turn, much like Tales of Vesperia, your weapons are the source of your skills, both active and passive. The system sounds more grindy than it is in practice though. Simply advancing through the dungeons and fighting 70-80% of the monsters you encounter naturally will provide you with enough materials to forge most weapons as they become available. In fact there were a number of times when I ran out of new weapons to forge and had to push on with already mastered weapons equipped. I liked that bosses and some savage encounters would drop mats of a higher tier than what was readily available from current monsters, and you had to spend them wisely before advancing the plot to the point where those mats became common. It let you preview the next tier of weapons and abilities for select characters but who you gave those weapons to was never overly stressful since you could get the other weapons you passed on later anyway.

Rare monsters drop unique mats that can make weapons that give unusual or otherwise off-type skills to characters and it makes catching rare monsters that flee rather than engage the player rewarding. IIRC, I encountered fewer than ten rare monsters in my entire play through though, so I did not feel it worth the time to actively hunt them unless there was some trick to make them appear more reliably (and catching them was also a bit dependent on the surroundings). Like treasure monsters in P5, they usually had some kind of gimmick where they were only weak to one thing if they had any weakness and the latter ones also came with dodge [weakness] passive and had a chance of just up and running from battle.

2. Combat

The one-more mechanic is replaced by "Sessions" which are not unlike self contained one-more combos anyway. The tag in attacking animations were pretty fun and though late game sessions can get quite long, there’s no way to speed up or skip session animations, possibly in part because of the existence of duo arts which use the session animations as a timer. They could have prohibited skipping prior to deciding on a duo art and then allow skipping or speed up after, though. Long session animations didn’t bother me, personally though, as session attack animations were varied and interesting enough that I never got tired of even the early basic ones (most of which were replaced by late game).

Openly displayed turn order, plus some late game skills that can actually influence turn order were both welcome features as well. 

Beyond sessions, specials, duo arts, and ad-lib performances were great at providing extra variety and changing the pace of what might otherwise be rote combat. While duo arts and ad-lib performances were rng bonuses that you mostly just take whatever you can get and be grateful, specials were more deliberate, needing a resource that builds slowly at first. Later on, with longer sessions and meter boosting passives, the sp gauge builds up much faster, but even then specials usually should be selected carefully, especially within boss battles where recovering lost sp is a bit trickier. 

That said, special skills were not created equal. Even though buffs and debuffs are powerful, some of the later buffing and debuffing specials came late, at a point where I already had normal skills that could buff or debuff at almost if not the same potency without spending SP. Similarly, as my repertoire of skills grew, my ability to hit weaknesses improved and using specials to break through resistances became less necessary, even as monsters began appearing with more resistances. 

Finally, Itsuki’s second special - “Strike A Pose,” was absurdly good and only got better as my session combos grew longer late game. The ability to give everyone twice the actions in a turn opens up so many other combos that often times, there was little reason to use offensive specials in favor of either two individual sessions or a concentrate/charge boosted session. 

Inversely, I found myself using healing specials a lot less, and perhaps it was because I used Tsubasa a lot less late game - I made Chrom a great lord which gave Itsuki healing and support which was kinda Tsubasa’s niche previously, so with Touma able to out damage Tsubasa and Elly covering flying enemies, Tsubasa just wasn’t out in combat all that often, which meant Mamori was the only one with healing specials (which were helpful on occasion) but in the end using Strike A Pose allowed me to get normal heals out in extra abundance while still enabling attackers to make a play to help clear troublesome enemies.

The FE weapon triangle’s representation in strengths and weaknesses among weapon types (not extending to magic though) gave a welcome way to predict weaknesses for enemies I had not encountered yet. One of the frustrating things about persona had always been that weakness/strength attributes for new monsters were difficult to predict and late game could cause you to walk into a bad situation that was never really your fault. Not only did the weapon triangle help mitigate some of the arbitrary mystery, but weaknesses were frequently consistent across similar enemy types at different levels even outside of the sword/lance/axe trinity. For example mage type enemies were, with few exceptions, all weak to swords and fire. Skills that deal effective damage (i.e. horseslayer/armorslayer) were also a great addition that gave characters tools to start session combos on enemies that they might otherwise be powerless against. The player also gets other ways to work around pesky resistances, features that are both welcome and necessary because...

If I have one glaring critic of the battle system it’s that Itsuki, like persona protags is mandatory. However, unlike persona protags, Itsuki has static combat tools and extremely limited ability to influence his own strength and weakness attributes. He’s always weak to fire and lances and since you can’t remove him from the front line, you always have someone in combat weak to those elements. Fortunately this is less deal breaking for the fact that Itsuki dying in combat doesn’t immediately game over (hallelujah!). In addition, later in the game most chars get passive skills that greatly increase their avoid against elements they’re weak to, Itsuki included. Still, being able to remove Itsuki from the front line would greatly increase your party diversity and flexibility. For a while after recruiting a second sword character, I had difficulty justifying putting him in the active party because Itsuki already filled the sword role. Eventually, I promoted Itsuki to a more support role and let the other char handle offensive sword plays. 

One more minor complaint I have is the inability to swap out fallen allies. Having only three party members means that even one of them dying can be crippling, especially later on and on harder difficulties. I’ve wasted turns reviving downed allies and trying to heal back only for enemies to just repeat what killed someone in the first place and put me exactly where I was last turn with less healing items or sometimes in an even worse situation. While the boss dichotomy of easy/impossible with little in between that some persona bosses suffer from is present here, the existence of specials, ad-lib performances and duo performances that heal or revive greatly alleviate some of the comeback struggle that has a tendency to snowball in this combat system. As the only active non-rng option, specials in particular are important to the system. The severity of boss gimmicks isn’t quite as punishing in TMS compared to persona, but TMS’s smaller party size, can still cause a bad situation to cascade into unsalvageable territory.

3. Dungeons

The dungeon design of TMS is interesting in that it departs from persona 3/4′s formula of randomly generated floors in favor of deliberately organized floor plans with usually only one correct path to the end. The linearity is sometimes broken up by treasures that you’ll have to backtrack for, but aside from that, there’s little mandatory backtracking within a dungeon. Dungeons stick around even after you clear them, allowing side stories to ask you to venture back over familiar ground for one task or another.

That said, the linear nature isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In TMS’s case, it allows the developers to give the player a learning curve for the dungeon’s mechanics and then challenge how well the player understood the earlier lessons, because the devs can guarantee that the player experienced the earlier sections before the later ones. It may sound obvious on paper, but it means that the developers can have a better awareness of the player’s competency at any given point in any dungeon, which is something that can’t be tracked when the player can go multiple routes at any given time. But I digress.

Another mechanical difference of note is how the player, Itsuki interacts with enemies pre-battle. In persona 3 and later, you could swing your weapon to hit an enemy in the field and that would start combat (at an advantage if they didn’t notice you), but in TMS, striking an opponent on the field knocks them back and stuns them, giving you the choice to then get closer and touch them to begin combat at an advantage or to avoid combat entirely. I like this greater degree of choice and it fits within the philosophy that TMS dungeons are made to be less stressful - less about meticulous resource management - than persona games. There’s still an incentive to engage in combat: you need to keep up a certain amount of level growth just to have the raw stats to beat bosses, but if you’re low on health and/or healing items or just plain short on available play time and you think or know there’s a checkpoint up ahead so you just want to make a push to reach it, you aren’t forced into battles you don’t want to engage in... with the exception of “Savage Encounters,” which are challenge monsters that seem to just exist to screw with you anyway. I think there was only one area prior to the last or second to last dungeons that had savage enemies I could actually beat albeit with great effort.

Playing TMS after Persona 5, it was also apparent that TMS’s idolaspheres were prototype palaces, from the set floor layouts and linear progression to the overarching themes of the dungeon informing its aesthetic and unique mechanics. In fact there are a number of things that TMS pinoeered for Atlus that then went on to feature in P5. You can read about some others here.

Puzzles were almost entirely navigation in nature - that is, how to use the dungeon mechanics and infrastructure to get from your start to your goal. It may be because it’s been a little over a month now, but none particularly stand out in my memory as being exceptionally good, while one or two I remember for being somewhat arduous or tiring. I’m still of the opinion that areas that the player is trying to solve puzzles in should have lower if not 0 encounter rate with random enemies, as battles, especially turn based ones that don’t tend to resolve in a single turn, can disrupt problem solving trains of thought.

Overall the dungeons are good though, and that’s important as they’re the meat of the gameplay. They are generally well paced with plenty to do and some minor stuff to find on your way to your target goal. Each dungeon’s unique mechanics fit with the dungeon theme and aside from a few exceptions the enemies are fairly distributed.

5. Conclusion

It has its flaws but I think, in the end, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE gets more right than it gets wrong. Even though the story was standard fair for this genre, I thoroughly enjoyed it and wished it had more content to its core for me to experience. I know there’s dlc, but the nature of dlc means that it’s nothing integral to the story and I’m not sure it would scratch the itch the way I want.

The setting is unique and the game fully embraces the themes it sets up and the themes in turn inform and affect almost every aspect of the game, giving it a unified appeal.

The combat is arguably more interesting than persona. It takes the same core formula of targeting weak points for massive damage but allows players more tools and freedom to circumvent bad matchups, make carefully planned strategic plays, or simply style on enemies with flashy satisfying attacks.

[miximax-hell]

There have been people, some truly wonderful souls, who have followed my blog during my long period of absence. For that, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t deserve that kindness. With that out of the way, hello! Once again, it’s been so long... And that’s exactly we won’t delve in the past now. Let’s get right to it!

Today’s miximax is one that can barely be recognised at all unless you’re specifically told who the vessel and aura are. So, just in case my handwriting is THAT awful, we’ll be talking about Sakuma’s miximax today! For him, I’ve chosen a wonderful character that is, quite literally, part of the history of videogames as a whole. After the news about a new Smash coming soon, the promise of Metroid Prime 4 for Switch, and the very successful (AND SPANISH) remake of Metroid II, it feels like a great time to bring Samus Aran into the battle! The coolest intergalactic bounty hunter there ever was makes for a very simple-looking miximax, but it was still quite tough to draw because of RUST. Ah well. No one to blame but myself.

Anyway, I think this deserves a proper explanation, so let’s see why these two make for a fantastic combo! For more on that, please check under the cut. As usual.

Well, you’ve made it this far, so let’s delve a little in the past now. ww Just yesterday, I finally finished writing my graduation thesis!! That means I’m finally free... for a little while. Just enough to enjoy half a month of debauchery AND SPEND TIME WITH MY GIRLFRIEND, WHOM I MISS VERY MUCH. Oh, and my internship ended about two and a half weeks ago, too. While I am free in that sense as well, I can’t say I’m a scriptwriter and game designer right now, which kinda sucks. But they might still hire me...! And I’m ruminating some exciting ideas of my own. I highly doubt the company I worked for will be interested in them, but, well, it’s worth a shot. And good practice, in any case. So, yeah! I hope you’ve all been well!

Anyway, let’s get right to it. A single paragraph of my life struggles was enough. ww

This is still a fairly small blog with less than 100 followers. And it will always be because of how niche it is. ww Not only that, but most of said (active) followers aren’t even friends of mine, but the aforementioned kind souls who, somehow, grace me with their presence here. That means that, for example, if I were to go on Twitter to talk about my projects for this blog (as I’ve done a couple of times in the past), only one or two of my friends would give a crap about it. And that’s assuming they see those specific tweets at all! Otherwise, the reactions I get are non-existent unless I’m specifically mentioning someone. And even that is far from being failproof. So, whenever I want to share my ideas with someone, develop them through conversation or brainstorm, there’s only one person I can rely on: my lovely girlfriend. She’s patient and super supportive of my work. Bless her soul. I’m so in love with her.

Anyway, thanks to how much I’ve ranted to her about SakuSamus, I’ve already typed down most of what needs to be said about why I think these two work so well together. I can also get away with mostly copying and pasting what I already told her over Skype and simply adjusting it a bit to make it more readable as a blog post and adding some extra details. ww So, let’s get to it!

Coming up with proper combinations for this blog can sometimes be a chore and require a lot of overthinking. However, as the wonderful @miyukiko​ would say, great ideas suddenly come to you sometimes. This had a bit of both. I'll try to skip the uninteresting bits of the creative process, but this is the important part.

Now that we've seen Sakuma in Ares and he's obviously won a lot of... prominence, if you may put it that way, it felt like a good time to take a closer look at him. Sakuma is a forward, and a pretty talented one, at that. When he becomes captain in the Ares timeline, though, his team comes to rely on him on a much deeper level too. Or so it seems, at least. To top it off, his descriptions in the original games say that he helps Kidou and acts as a strategist that coordinates the team. That’s pretty much the base we can build upon.

As a forward, he seems pretty thorough and tries to stay cool and calm, since that's the kind of soccer they play at Teikoku. And, from what we've seen in Ares, as a captain, he worries so much about his team's well-being and about being a good leader for them. You know, the usual "Am I fit to be captain?" thing that IE loves so much. ww

But there's a lot of bad stuff about Sakuma, too.

For one, despite his cool act, when he loses it, he loses it good. We all know how he reacted when he was part of Shin Teikoku and how extremely mad he would get with Kageyama, for example. Also, when he does lose it (and, arguably, even when he’s still somewhat sane), he's very self-destructive.

I think that's somehow linked to his fears: he simply doesn't want to be left alone. He panics when Kidou leaves Teikoku and, again, loses it completely. When his insanity reaches that kind of point, nothing else seems to matter, so he goes all out even if it can cost him his life. Or his legs, at least.

Related to that, and this is much more relevant in terms of sheer gameplay, he is extremely dependent of others.

He's supposed to be some super cool ace striker, but absolutely all of his shots are combo hissatsus no matter what timeline or age you’re looking at. Koutei Penguin 2gou and 3gou, Twin Boost, Death Zone, Deep Jungle... They all need 2-3 people, and, usually, Kidou's involved.

So, tough as it is to say, if Sakuma isn't by Kidou's side, he's subpar. And if he's all alone, he's basically worthless. And to add insult to injury:

He usually depends on people who aren't even forwards to score goals.

He is turned into a defender as an adult because, as I said, he's subpar as a forward if he's alone.

That makes Sakuma a very interesting case: in a universe that is all about the power you get from of your teammates, what he lacks is individuality. ...Especially when you consider that his only motivation to play soccer seems to be to play with Kidou. www

As he is, he's the absolute definition of support character. Pretty sad, if you ask me. (Oh. And many of his in-game hissatsus are very dirty and the referee complains more often than not about them. That counts too. ww)

So, here comes the difficult question: who can give Sakuma the strength, the individuality and, partially, the safety that he needs to be relevant without killing himself? After thinking about it for quite a long time, I felt like he could really use the power of Samus Aran.

(Not to go all BuzzFeed on you guys, but the answer would’ve surprised you if I hadn’t said it from the very beginning. ww)

On a technical level, Samus is strong af. Not only has she survived to and successfully finished every mission she's embarked on (as far as I’m aware), but she's pretty much exterminated full races, DESTROYED PLANETS and killed the same evil pterodactyl alien... thing that wants her dead like 11 times by now.

And what's more: she's done all of this completely alone. (Except maybe for Other M. I haven’t played that game yet, but it looked like there were more people, idk) All in all, she's a beast. But that's not all, of course. There are many heroes who go and do their thing alone. It could've easily been Lara Croft too, for example--at least in the original games.

Sakuma, as I said, seems to be driven by a will to be with Kidou and is very much dependent of other people. And when things go wrong and he loses it, he is... spiteful, to say the least. And I don’t know if you guys were aware of this, but Samus is 120% salt. I read a post about the hatred between Ridley and Samus that when Ridley was announced for Smash and all, but I sadly can’t find it right now. If any of you guys know that post, please let me know and I’ll add the link here because it was SO GOOD.

According to my limited knowledge on the Metroid Series, Samus fights three main things: metroids (you never saw that one coming, I'm sure), space pirates, and Ridley (who is the leader of the space pirates, but is not a space pirate because I, too, would listen to my Evil Pterodactyl Lord if he were to give me orders).

Long story short, the space pirates and Ridley killed Samus’s parents. She was adopted by people from a civilization called the Chozo, but the space pirates killed the Chozo too. And when Samus found a baby metroid that saw her as its mother, the space pirates and Ridley kidnapped the metroid and it eventually died because of them.

Samus doesn't fight for the greater good. Samus fights because she's fucking pissed.

But, unlike Sakuma, she uses that rage against the right people and in the right way: she is still salty as hell, but she stays cool, kicks ass, makes everyone go boom, and she's out. She does what Sakuma does, but better. Even when she's pissed. Oh, and she does things the way they should be done: with legal permission, without turning evil and stuff. And she's super respected and feared because of it, which is precisely what a captain and a forward should be like, respectively.

And the icing on the cake?

In IE3, when Sakuma has levelled up enough, he learns how to use Space Penguin. also, Samus has a visor thing that can replace Sakuma's patch and that sounded cool to me

Anyway, that would be the gist of it! As I said earlier, I’m not the biggest Metroid connoisseur in the world: I’ve only beaten Fusion and Zero Mission, and I’m currently playing Prime and Return of Samus. As such, excuse me if some other game I haven’t played debunks all I’ve said, but I haven’t found any traces of such a thing. ww

However, despite my few experiences with Metroid games, Samus is a character I love and have very fond memories of. This series represent what I love the most about the video game genre: that sense of continuous and hard-earned improvement that only comes from experiences that are constantly giving you new abilities (and even new looks) to reflect your progress. It’s similar to RPGs, a genre I love as well, but RPGs reward you more for personal progress and dedication, such as grinding for levels, and not (usually) so much for just pushing forward and defeating bosses.

Last (and least), for those who have made it this far, here’s a little something you might be interested in knowing: I’ve been inactive here, but I’m still constantly trying hard to come up with interesting ideas for miximaxes! And I think I have found some cool stuff for both Kidou and Shishido, so feel free to tell me on which of those you’d like me to work on next. They’re both very challenging to draw and fiddle with, but I’m always happy to shift my priorities in any way you guys want me to. ww

[ryukyuan-sunflower]

Edit: So amazingtoysha asked me advice for writing in a message which I posted a little while ago...and responding to the question gave me limited space apparently. So here is the full post of all the advice I wanted to give!

“Hiya! Thank you very much for reading Finding the Four Eyed Samurai. I am glad you enjoyed it thus far. Oh! Well...I’m far from a professional. My fanfiction, if it were a story unaffiliated with Samurai Champloo, would still break so many guidelines of professional published work. Perspective switching between Mugen and Fuu, purple prose, grammar, info dumping... My sins are extensive. This story is more like spewing out my heart onto the internet for fans that enjoy it :) You probably have seen the improvement over my 6 year period on fanfiction. I too am learning. However, if you are talking about just creatively writing for fun, practice, to send a message or even to just fulfill an inner fan, maybe I can give some advice. Some of the things I write will most definitely be things you already know but I’ll list them anyway. Since you mentioned you have trouble putting things into words, rather than plot points or characters, I’ll focus on that. 1. Start with small details and build up slowly. My writing process is actually very disjointed. I can not for the life of me write a story in order. I write all character dialogue first and fill in around it. When I first write a scene, I will simply start with something like: “She walked through the marketplace.” That’s it. Boring right? I will leave it for a bit if I’m stuck and move along to continue the scene in simple terms. When i come back, I start to imagine more if I were in that environment. This is where I think of the five senses. What would she smell, see, hear, touch or even...taste(?) lol. But when writing a scene, I also try to think about the mood it sets. If the character is feeling happy, the crowds will be rambunctious, the lights bright and the sights they see are fascinating. If they are hungry, it would be the smell of food that would command their attention. If the character is tired, the clamor and loud voices would grate on their nerves and the lights would be blinding. In the chapter I’m currently writing, Kyoto is much like Edo in that it is crowded and always lively. But because of the last chapter’s events...she can’t take notice of this energy. Without Mugen beside her, the crowds only make her feel more alone. So not only does the atmosphere set the mood, but a character’s mood can help you pinpoint what you should be describing in the environment. 2. Study! Read and read and read some more. This is advice I should listen to... Published novels, and sometimes even fanfiction can help you get a grasp on the flow of a story. You’ll also pick up words or descriptions that you wouldn’t have used otherwise. You’ll start to notice how the sound of a word in English can hold great weight. Think of how it comes off in the sentence: She scratched off the wallpaper until she could see the wood beneath it. She clawed at the wallpaper until she could see the wood beneath it. “Scratched” can be used in so many contexts. Is she redecorating? Is she curious what is underneath? “Clawed at” makes it feel frantic, like she is searching for something in a frenzy or perhaps is furious and clawed it off out of anger. It applies an uneasy feeling without stating it outright. There is a common phrase among writers. “Show, don’t tell.”  Show the character is upset through the clenching of their fists, the quiver of their lips. Dont just say “She was upset.” Personally, I am a HUGE HUGE breaker of this >.< But it is a very important rule if you wish to get better at describing. 3. More studying!!! As much as every writer will tell you to read, I think it is good to look at visual forms of entertainment too. For example, if I had only watched Samurai Champloo as my basis for Tokugawa culture, my view would’ve been severely limited. If you want to write a samurai drama: watch black and white chanbara films, watch modern day shows about Japan, documentaries, look at photographs or paintings, read comics, and even play video games like Tenchu or Onimusha that will give that vibe of the time period. Reading is good for molding thoughts into words. But if you’re writing about an environment you are unfamiliar with, you need to SEE it before you can describe something believable. I had watched a lot of Japanese movies and played a lot of Japanese videogames before writing my fanfic. It helped so much. 4. Take notes.  A lot of friggin’ notes. 

Sometimes the right wording just won’t come to you when you put time aside to sit in front of your laptop or a notebook trying to write it all in one go. Like I said before, I don’t write in order at all. Some people can. And some can’t. I keep a notebook and pencil by my bed in case I have any dreams. I even carry one in my purse wherever I go. Sometimes a sentence or a really good word will just hit you all of a sudden. If you are writing a very long story, you will make tons of notes and will find you won’t even use half of them until you’re in way later chapters. An example for me was in the last posted chapter. I was writing chapter 28 or so when parts of this line popped into my head out of nowhere: “To him, she smelled of fresh rain and sweet spring flowers. To her, he reeked of sake and the cheap perfume from the whore he’d bought.”

At the time, I had gotten caught in rainstorm. And I always liked the scent of rain a lot. This made me think of how much I hate the scent of perfume since it makes my nose hurt. This contrast unveils both of their feelings. Intoxicated Mugen adores her while Fuu is disgusted by his recent behavior. One little thought and bam! Jotted it on paper and then put it into Chapter 34. An idea can come from literally anywhere. So write it down and save it for later! 5. Keep an open mind. It is good to know where your story is going by the end or you’ll wind up lost halfway through. Despite that, don’t reject new ideas that come to you. My story was originally going to be 26 chapters. If I had pushed out all the crazy side stories my mind concocted, then it would’ve lost so much of what readers enjoy about it. Don’t be afraid to make your characters go through and overcome struggle. If there is a sweet scene that will help further a relationship, put it in. Build up ideas and cut out extraneous things later. 6. Know that it will not be perfect. It will be far from perfect. Story might be decent. Description might even be bad. Maybe it’s the reverse. But that is okay. If you’re a beginner writer, Fanfiction is a great way to start, in my opinion. While you are writing preexisting characters, it is like a studying exercise. You can build around them, and try to understand why the characters are the way that they are or what drives them. This can help in the future when designing your own characters and world in which they inhabit. 7. Share your story! Don’t hide it! Some will compliment you and others will criticize you. Sure, almost everyone on fanfiction isn’t some paid professional. But the feedback will really help. It will push you. A nice compliment will make your day. A bad one will push you to do better. When publishing a book, you have to write a whole manuscript and pay for editors. And if you’re beginning, you probably won’t even want to start that process. That’s why writing fanfiction as a form of practice can allow you to share what you put your heart into instead of locking away your story to a forgotten file on your computer. 8. All that matters is that you are trying, learning and will gradually get better. Almost everything in life does not come easy. The idea you have for a story is 10% of the work, while sculpting that idea through words is 90% of it. My Samcham fanfic when I started was...god...ughhhhhhh. Sometimes I still cringe XD However, I know that it helped me learn so much, not just about vocabulary, storytelling and history, but also about myself. 9. Don’t stop writing. You will get days, weeks, maybe months where you might not feel like continuing it. You might even drop the story altogether. But if you stop, so does your journey in learning. Press forward. If you post the beginning chapter and get only a few comments or barely any views, and it feels like not enough, know that people will only come to read the story you put so much effort into if you continue writing it! 10. Be proud when you look back on your previous work. As you discover your own voice and your storytelling evolves, it might be painful to look back at your earlier writing. Instead of punching yourself, laugh it off and realize how far you have come. All it takes is one step. Don’t give up :) Hope at least one thing I said can help you a little on your journey of creative writing ^^ ~RyukyuanxSunflower AKA Fenrir’s Lockhart P.S: If you need help with description or plot points, there are many beta readers on fanfiction willing to help. And although I tend to disappear often, shoot me a message on fanfiction about your story or something you’re stuck on and I’ll try my best to help!

[lindoig8]

Monday to Thursday, 19-22 July

Monday

Packing up was a bit easier than normal today with no hoses to coil and most things not unpacked the previous evening – but the drive to Boulia was horrific. The road was another of the very common roads up here that are barely wide enough for a family sedan to keep all wheels on the bitumen. Yesterday was the last day of the annual Boulia Camel Races and hundreds of vans and campers were escaping, heading north on the road on which we were trying to head south.

The first half of the drive was a nightmare with us driving partly or completely off the road for more than a third of the time. The flood of escapee traffic must have become exhausted at about the halfway mark and the drive improved immensely after that. But there were also a lot of cars and utes heading north at an average speed of perhaps 140 kph, all stopping for nobody. We have been repeatedly told (by locals) that most locals drive that way and the tourists had better vacate the road when they appear over the horizon. We were often driving 3 to 5 metres clear of the road and were often at a complete standstill (I reckon we stopped way more than 50 times that day) to allow approaching vehicles to pass safely before we reached a culvert or road-sign, etc. On one occasion, we were stationery, at least 3 metres off the road, when one of these maniac drivers hurtled past and hit our car with maybe a hundred stones – one of which took a big chip out of our windscreen. We always have some windscreen patches in the car that are supposed to help prevent cracks creeping right across the windscreen and they seemed to have been effective for us on this occasion.

We arrived in Boulia just after noon and set up the van pretty quickly under some shade and had lunch. During the afternoon, we strolled the kilometre into town to get some brochures at the Information Centre. There were at least a thousand Little Corellas in the trees across the road from the Centre – the second time we had seen a huge flock of them in the past week. Later, I searched for birds in the bush across the highway from the caravan park but saw very few so returned to camp and Happy Hour for comfort.

Tuesday

We drove back to Dajarra via a completely different scenic route, and it was much more interesting. It was a rather circuitous back road, mostly gravel, but in pretty good condition and the scenery was much more varied and fascinating. The hills around here are always interesting, mainly low rises, but adjacent hills are often completely different. One might be a low symmetrically rounded buff-coloured contour abutting a plethora of jagged rocks, jutting at all angles, apparently defying the laws of gravity and completely expending the artist’s palette. There are perfect cones, low flattish mesas and improbably steep ones; some are plonked in the middle of 20 similar cones, others are lonely towers in an apparently endless plain. Some rank one behind the other, progressively climbing skywards, others are haphazardly dotting the landscape with no rhyme nor reason. It certainly gives one cause for thought – how did nature create such an infinite variety of shape and colour, and what forces worked to plant them where they are and consisting of such diverse structures and materials?

An example is Phosphate Hill – basically just a rural location, but literally two massive hills made of man-mined phosphate. They grew out of the landscape for many kilometres as we approached and the tiny mechanical shovels atop them looked like Tinker-toys. Another nearby example was Monument – just another location, but literally looking like a huge monument, spearing the sky. You can see it from more than 20 kilometres away and we got to within maybe half a kilometre – although we subsequently found we had encroached about 2-3 kilometres on forbidden mining land.

We had quite a few stops along the road looking at birds and plants and when we finally got back to Dajarra delighted with our day, we managed to pull in beside another van whose occupants agreed to share their power socket. I rigged up all our leads to enable us both to connect to a 15-amp supply only to find that their van was only wired for a 10-amp supply as were their extension leads – so most of my leads were redundant this time.

Wednesday

We drove back into Mt Isa (our third visit this trip), straight to ARB, and at last we got our load-balancing gear fitted. It is surprising how much difference it makes to the feel of our rig when driving – although some of the rough uneven roads around here still give me a few scary moments on most days. We needed fuel and a gas cylinder swap-over so we did those things before booking back in at the caravan park. Once the car was decoupled, we had lunch and went back into town to buy some groceries and other odds and ends. We even visited their tiny Bunnings here – one reason why we needed to leave the van back in the park – there is only first-come first-served street parking anywhere near it – nothing for longer rigs.

It took ages to get the van set up on the site we were allocated. We had previously booked to park on the site next door but they had put someone else on it so we got one with power but no water and no sullage outlet. We had to couple (triple?) three hoses together and connect to a tap 4 sites higher up to get water and we ran our sullage to a drain that had a grille cover so only half the water got into it and the rest ran onto our neighbours’ site: the one we had booked. It is a poorly maintained park although, in fairness, we heard that the current owners had purchased it when it was really run down only a few months earlier and they are working to bring it up to scratch.

Lots of parks are in need of urgent upgrades. There are probably hundreds of thousands more vans touring the country than when we bought ours and most of them are gigantic rigs trying to park on sites that were designed for vans not much more than half the current average – and the narrow internal roads don’t allow big cars with big rigs to manoeuvre onto such pocket-handkerchief sites.

Anyway, we were finally all set up for our one-night stay. It was very hot that day and we really enjoyed a coldie or two for Happy Hour before a wonderful cool shower, even if our neighbours had to endure/enjoy some of our soapy water.

Thursday

It was a very busy and productive morning with more cleaning, a load of washing, emptying and reorganising both the car and the van boots, refixing our rear numberplate (for the third time), and so on.

After lunch, I took the car across town to get the big chip in (or should that be ‘out of’?) our windscreen fixed. I think they did a good job and I almost got it as a freebie. I paid with AMEX and it seemed to go through OK but when I was putting the receipt away late at night about a week later, I noticed a cryptic message giving rise to some doubt about the payment. Sure enough, next morning I got an embarrassed call from the woman who had taken the payment asking if I would mind paying again because she had just received advice from the bank of a rejected payment. Of course, I paid by bank transfer within the hour and got a nice thank you email from her.

After the windscreen was fixed, I drove out to Lake Moondarra, about 20 clicks out of town and had my best birding experience since leaving home. Heather had elected to stay in the van but I enjoyed a fantastic couple of peaceful hours at the lake and saw at least 39 species, including 10 more for our trip-list and 2 for our life-list. It was really great and if we ever stay at Mt Isa again, I will definitely visit it again. As at now, our tally of different species for this trip is 186, of which 14 were lifers for us.

[steamishot]

christmas eve

this year is the second time i’ll be spending christmas in NYC! it’s snowed quite a few times already and we experienced a snow storm recently. the weather fluctuates between 45~ (not that cold) to 31~ (kinda cold) and i adjust the layers i wear accordingly. with the right winter gear, winter hasn’t been so bad. i think i feel less cold being here this year, because i’ve already been in the area long enough to gradually transition vs. coming here from sunny california and experiencing such a drastic weather change. i’m glad i got to experience a snow storm, because there was no snow storm at all last year, and it barely snowed.

matt has been on electives, which is only 3-5 hours of work M-F. we’ve never spent this much time being home together. on one hand, it’s nice. on the other hand, it can be annoying sometimes because it’s a small space. i go back and forth between wanting him home, and wanting some space lol. i’m happy that he finally has time to unwind for more than a week, after consistently working for like 8 months now without a vacation. he’s been sleeping so much - will sleep the full night and then take naps during the day. he also recently got the pfizer vaccine and had arm soreness and fatigue afterwards. i realize i’m also slow at adjusting. i have to adjust to him being away, but also adjust to him being at home. it’s a lot to learn with his erratic schedule. oddly enough, he tends to sleep earlier when he doesn’t have to wake up until 7:30am than when he has to wake up at 5:30am.

i’ve been inspired by my childhood friend/running buddy D who recently passed her DPT exam and can officially practice as a physical therapist. on the side, she makes succulent arrangements. it started as a hobby she picked up in PT school, and she sold them to friends/family to fund her education. it evolved into a small business this year while she was studying for boards. this past weekend, she was able to host a pop up shop in front of a boba shop and had a great turnout. not gonna lie, my initial reaction was comparison and i felt like a real loser. not only does she have a stable career that she’s passionate about, she’s also successful in her small business. i think i’m also way more prone to comparison with her, because we’re the same age and have similar backgrounds (our dads are best friends). anyway, i had to remind myself to be happy for her, and that she got where she is because she put in a lot of hard work. 

i completed the ux/ui bootcamp back in feb 2019, but i have done very little for it afterwards. i’m still helping my dietitian friend out with her website. she recently gave birth to her second child, and i went on a design hiatus after my move - so it’s been a quiet few months. it’s easy and comfortable to do my current HR work while also being compensated overtime. however, WFH seems to be coming to an end in the next 3-6 months and it’s finally time to move forward with my life and find a new job. 

i learned that my brother and i share similar qualities. neither of us have developed much grit in life, and we just give up when things get hard. we’re the type of people content with coasting by in life. luckily, my parents are able to financially support themselves, but i feel guilty that i don’t have the mentality that many asian americans (children of immigrants) do: of doing financially better than the last generation. my dad hustled and took a lot of risks to get to where he is today. perhaps when i have children or a sense of responsibility over someone else’s life, i’ll have an innate strive to hustle harder. my brother has a BS in chemical engineering, and a MS in electrical engineering. he’s been at the same job since he graduated college, even though i’m sure he could be compensated way more elsewhere. for whatever reason, he’s doing an online BS degree in computer science as well. however, it’s a course that goes at your pace. it’s been like two years and he still hasn’t completed it. 

for a long time, i used to look up to my brother who is 2 years older than me, and think - if he was making X at age X, then i’m okay. however, i should be looking up to more ambitious people - upward comparison, not lateral comparison haha - if i want to become inspired.

in regards to ux/ui, i always felt i wasn’t “passionate enough” about the work. like i would blank during an interview because i couldn’t articulate why i was doing this. i’m scared because of my lack of experience (transitioning careers), and scared just because i lack confidence. i haven’t had a formal interview in almost 4 years. i’m pretty sure i scared myself into not trying at all, just to avoid failure. and that’s what i want to improve on. to just try. and develop grit. finish my portfolio. and at least apply to jobs. i was fortunately able to maintain my current job amidst a pandemic and have an easy and restful year, but now, it’s. time. to. put. in. WORK! 

[randoreviews]

LEE INTERVIEW 2

Ben: So yeah, again, these are like really simple questions. No real brain busters. Should I just start? Lee: Yeah, just dive right in, man. Ben: Okay, cool. So what was the last thing you had to eat? Lee: Ahh, this morning I had some breakfast, I made some... potatoes, some scrambled eggs, with a little bit of creme fraiche in em and some cilantro and some sausage. Ben: Oooo! Lee: And then I hit it with a little green Tabasco. Ben: I was gonna ask you any ketchup but green Tabasco, okay. Lee: Yeah, green Tabasco. It's the only way to fly. Ben: Nice. And I was gonna ask you what was the last thing you had to drink, but I can join it up with this question: did you have coffee this morning and how was that? Lee: Yeah, I have coffee every morning. Ben: Does it make you, like, wanna listen to heavy metal or? Lee: No, just a pleasant way to ease into the day, I find. Come down and throw on a pot. Feed the dog. Let the dog out. By the time all that's done there's a fresh hot pot a coffee waiting for me. And just sip on that for a while. Ben: Nice. So in general it usually relaxes you? Cuz I know sometimes for me it can give you that gentle boost you need or like for me it'll make me wanna do like twenty different things at once and plan a trip around the world. Lee: Yeah, I think the jitters is what they call that. But ah, I'll just avoid drinking it late at night, other than that it keeps me rollin through the day. Ben: Yessir. Cool. So when was the last time you had a Pop-Tart? Really random question. Lee: Pop-Tart? God I feel like it was actually more recent than you would think, but I can't put my finger on when it woulda been. I feel like Pop-Tarts were in my life fairly recent... Oh yeah, cuz my fiance's brother is big into Pop-Tarts, so I think when he was out here earlier this fall he had a little stash and then when he left I think there were a Pop-Tart or two leftover. So I'm gonna say it was probly sometime possibly after Thanksgiving but before Christmas. If you can believe that. Before that it was prolly... ten years? Ben: I can, yeah. Cool, so pretty recently, I knew there was a reason I asked you that. Lee: Oh, yeah. Very timely question. On point as always. Ben: Haha. Those things will last twenty years in the cupboard. May as well not let em go to waste anyway. Lee: No. In fact I'll probly go back inside and check and make sure I didn't miss any on my last round. Ben: Haha. Okay. I have just so many random questions just scribbled down. What one makes sense next. Lee: That's cool. Ben: Arrre youuu watching any shows right now with your fiance, since you just mentioned her. Any Columbo. Lee: No, we haven't... well, I'll take that back, sooo... we both enjoy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on... Netflix, I believe? No, it's not Netflix, it's Amazon. Ben: Yup. Lee: Yeah, that's a really good show and I think they only have like two or three episodes left in the, I guess it's the series. It's definitely season 3 maybe but I don't think they're makin another one after that. Ben: I've heard it has great costumes. Lee: Yeah, great costumes, great set design. The dialogue's just... razor sharp. (starts laughing to himself) Ben: Haha, yup. Lee: And it's a pretty unique concept or storyline or however you wanna put it, it's not something I've seen anything like before so... Ben: And that's about the housewife who becomes a standup comedian? Lee: Yeah, pretty much. Yup. Ben: Okay, okay. Is she your favorite character in the show? Lee: She's great. She's also got this lady who plays her manager who's (starts laughing to himself again) pretty hilarious at times. And then, oh, maybe you can help me with this one -- her dad is played by the guy who was in that show, you would know his name. He was in, I wanna say he was in The Man Who Wasn't There but I can't put my finger on where he woulda been. But he played that like neurotic detective on some TBS show I can't remember. Ben: Huh. Okay. I don't think I can remember? But I'm just gonna look it up and I'll include it in the transcript of the interview.   https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001724/ Lee: Yeah, but his character is probably my favorite of the bunch. Ben: Nice. So Mrs. Maisel and no other shows right now? Lee: No. No, we try to avoid the TV as much as possible which we do a really good job at but every once in a while we’ll watch... we watched Clue? The movie Clue last night from 1985? Ben: Oh I love that one. Lee: Yeah, it's the first time I'd seen it. Ben: Oh, it's great. Great ensemble cast. Lee: Yeah, Christopher Lloyd and the guy whose name I don't remember but I think he was in like Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ben: Tim Curry. Lee: Tim Curry, yeah. He was really good. I didn't recognize anyone else, I think. Ben: Yeah. And then the maid. I've seen it a couple times but when you're really young that maid with the great cleavage, it's like, I like this movie. Lee: Lotta great cleavage in that movie, to be honest. I pointed that out as we were watchin it, I was like, yeah... pretty decent amount of cleavage. They knew what they were doin back in the 80s. Wouldn't get away with that now, I'll tell you that much! Ben: Yup, yup. Lee: So yeah, that's about it. Ben: That's a good one, man. So keeping on this same line of questions: last movie you saw in the theater?? Lee: I do actually know the last movie I saw in the theater is I went to see Joker. Ben: Nice. Lee: And I was thoroughly disappointed in that movie, I didn't like that at all. Ben: Really? You thought it was overdone? Lee: Uh, yeah, it's just, I didn't find it at all... interesting, or compelling or... I dunno. Like I just didn't understand why I was sittin there watchin it. And I love Joaquin Phoenix, I think he does a great job in everything I've seen him in but I didn't find his performance all that interesting, or I didn't find the character of the Joker the way they wrote it all that interesting either. I've heard it compared to like Taxi Driver before but it was basically the same story, this kind of loner, isolated, gets a little obsessed with the wrong things and all of a sudden he's crazy. Ben: Right. Yeah. And that was the last movie you saw in the theater? Lee: Yeah... I think so. And then before that Christopher Robin. Ben: Cool, haha. How was that? Lee: That was a great movie. I'll take Christopher Robin over Joker any day of the week. Ben: Hahaha. Lee: What are you laughin at? Ben: Did you see that with your nephew or with your fiance? Lee: Well she was not my fiance at the time but uh, we had just started dating and we went and saw that and, both enjoyed it. Ben: Nice. Have you been listening to any music? Lee: Mmm, gash. I meaaan... a little bit. We'll throw on some tunes around the house every now and then. Ben: Do you have a speaker system or like a bluetooth speaker err? Lee: Yeah, like a little bluetooth speaker, which is fairly decent, it just kinda fills up the room. And then if I'm workin out I'll put on somethin in the headphones just to supplement the coffee, so I feel like I can take on the world. But it's been a long time since I've consistently listened to music, I'm more into podcasts and stuff these days. Ben: Yea, I think that's like a lot of people. What are your favorite podcasts? Lee: Uumm... geez louise... aahh... my favorite podcast is called Part of the Problem by a guy named Dave Smith. And it's sort of a equal parts I guess political and current events. Ahh... what would you call it. I dunno... discussion, or whatever. Ben: Discourse. Lee: Huh? Ben: Discourse? Lee: Yeah, well it's him, Dave Smith, who actually got his start in and still is a standup comedian, so he's got a really good talent of bein able to sort of dissect political news, current events news and then put a usually pretty funny take on it. And if not he's just an incredibly interesting guy and has a take that I sort of identify with more often than not, so... Ben: Is he our age or older err? Lee: Actually, yeah, he's exactly our age, I believe, he's 36, 37. Your birthday's comin up, what, next week, right? Ben: Uh, yeah, I guess it's kinda been in my mind but, I'll be celebrating by myself. Lee: Are you ready? Ben: Yeah, 37! Seems like a fine age, ya know? Lee: It is a fine age, to be sure. Ben: Yeah, yeah. Just keep on learning little things, little improvements. Lee: Yup, every day. Ben: Soo... podcasts, so yeah, any others besides the Dave Smith one? Lee: Umm... I mean, yeah, I mean I've sort of got my little Rolodex that I'll roll through from time to time, this guy Tom Woods I like listenin to a lot. I've actually been pretty good at eliminating podcasts from my diet, not addin em, just kinda cuttin out the riffraff. Ben: Some podcast pruning? Lee: Yeah, exactly. The Joe Rogans of the world have no place in my heart anymore. Ben: Shh, I was just thinking the other day about isn't it crazy Joe Rogan is like the Walter Cronkite of our generation? Lee: Haha, yeah, I know, but he's such a fucking douche too. Not that Cronkite wasn't a douche but... Ben: It's like, can you picture Walter Cronkite being into jiu-jitsu, I mean, tha'd be pretty great, but... Lee: That would be pretty great. And like slammin DMT and smoking like insane amounts of weed and basically just agreeing with everybody on his podcast, everything they say all the time. Ben: Haha, ahh, him saying JFK was assassinated and then immediately smoking a joint right on TV, that would have been great. Lee: Yup, and then comin up with some conspiracy theories and then backtracking completely within the next 24 hours.  Ben: Haha. Well another little random question at the top here is, how do you get your news? Is a lot of it through podcasts or? Lee: Umm, yeah, well what I consider news is not what used to be considered news, like I don't really get day-to-day news because it's all so preposterous and I mean it doesn't affect anybody's life really in any way other than some major stuff, ya know, issues of war and peace and issues like global pandemics, those are gonna affect you much more than, ya know, if you just sort of think back on the last ten to twenty years of what the news cycle consisted of it's just largely preposterous and irrelevant and usually not even true and when it is true it's so quickly spun into a cause or some, you know, political stance, it's like, I'm kind of pruning podcasts and I'm also pruning unnecessary information or opinion out of my life as much as possible and really been enjoying that so, I just gotta find really people I trust and usually not even from a news perspective but if they are discussing something it might pique my interest to look into it a little bit. I'm still stickin with things like theory over day-to-day, you know, I'll prefer to read economics or history or something rather than turnin to the news because I feel like you can learn so much more about patterns and humanity and what not by doin it that way. Ben: Right, right. Your degree is in philosophy, right? Lee: Yes. Ben: Yes, cool. So yeah, the day-to-day politics is pretty much just like watching Real World/Road Rules Challenge, it's just like all drama, people talking shit about each other behind their backs, people tweeting nasty things... Lee: Yeah, but I don't want the takeaway of this to be that the Real World/Road Rules Challenge isn't a fantastic show because it is. Ben: Haha. Lee: Honestly, I think that was a terrible comparison that you just made? I THINK I get where you're comin from but...? Yeah, it's just so dumb, it's not only that it does not seem true or accurate or important at the time but, what?, less than, what, 72 hours usually it's just like, nobody's talking about it anymore, nobody cares, nothing has changed. I just feel like it's a really great way to fill your life with a whole bunch of unnecessary anxiety and anger and animosity towards other people or other groups or whatever it is, it's just like a really awesome way for you to distract yourself from what actually should be at the front of your mind which is what you're doing on a day-to-day basis and the health and well-being of your family and close friends and, sorta how you can contribute to makin the world a little bit better and makin yourself a little healthier and happier and the people you love happier as well. Just don't have any time for it. Ben: Right. You don't have any time for, “Nancy Pelosi ate Mitch McConnell's ice cream out of the fridge” and uh... Lee: Haha, “She drank his milkshake!” No, I don't, I mean every once in a while I'll kinda click somethin, tune back in, just to remind myself how... how... just the word I keep using is how preposterous it all is and how much weight some people put on it and like I said it just becomes such an unnecessary energy suck and soul suck and just, yeah... No need! Ben: Yeah, yup... So what are your go-to apps? What apps on your phone do you find yourself using the most? Lee: That's actually interesting, I sort of am gonna contradict myself but there’s an app I use called Newsvoice which, I liked it a lot better when I started using it, now I feel it's not quite as cool, but it used to just be an app that would compile headlines, you know, local, international, national, whatever, and it would offer, say, for every story it would give you five or six different headlines from different, um, organizations with different political leanings, so you'd get like a HuffPo article and then you'd get a, you know, Wall Street Journal and you'd get the same story covered four or five, six different ways, which is kind of a cool way to avoid unnecessary bias. So that's one I've kinda been hittin up a little. I've really been enjoying everyone's hot takes on the Facebook app with this Coronavirus, just really gettin a sense of (starts laughing) how everybody's reacting. That's really enjoyable. Ben: Yup, yup. So Newsvoice and Facebook? Lee: Yup, I like those. And then you know, I do all my mobile banking and bill paying through apps, so I got apps for those. Ben: Useful... useful. Lee: Yup. What else? Oh, Golf Clash. That's a great one. I play a little Golf Clash when the time is right. Ben: Golf Clash, niiice. If you hit a good ball on that is it like do you feel it in your body still? Lee: Oh, it'll let you know. They'll yell great shot at you or perfect shot and it's like, my entire day has been validated. Ben: Haha, nice. All right, soo... going back to the music question, I know you said you're not listenin to too much music but what was the last concert you saw? Lee: Ooo. Wow... Ahh... Honestlyyy... unless I can remember something else, I think it was the Rancid and Mighty Mighty Bosstones New Year's Eve bash in Los Angeles. Ben: Nice. Where was that? What was the venue? Lee: That was aaat... oh god, if you rattle off a couple of the big ones around there I'll remember it. Ben: Ehhh, I'm blanking on those, there's the Hollywood Bowl of course but it was probably at a smaller club. Lee: No, it wasn't that, it was an indoor venue. Ben: The El Raaayy. Lee: No, it's recongizable but I can't remember what it was.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_Auditorium  But that can't be right though because that would have been like... four years ago at least?    Ben: Yeah, and when did we go to that Weezer/Panic at the Dis... maybe I shouldn't even mention Panic at the Disco but when did we go to that Weezer show, was that four or five years ago? Lee: You mean when Weezer opened up for Panic at the Disco? Ben: Ohh god, no, no, Panic at the Disco opened up for Weezer. Lee: “STOP SMOKING!” Ben: Hahahah... oh gosh. We didn't really fit in with the Panic at the Disco fans. Lee: No, but was that after? Cuz honestly, man, my timeline is so blurry and like out of sorts that you could literally pick an event within ten years and another one within ten years and I couldn't tell you which came first, with like a four-year margin of error. It's pathetic. Yeah, I don't remember. I honestly don't remember. Ben: Yup, but that Rancid/Bosstones New Year's show was pretty good? Lee: Oh, it was awesome, man. I was like thirty rows or, it wasn't rows cuz everyone was standing up but I was probly about thirty heads deep, so great view of the stage and what I considered close but I was like, well this will be certainly out of the way of any aggressive moshpit that might break out. So I was just kinda sittin there waitin for the show to start, sippin my beer, Rancid comes out, and like the FIRST note they play, which is from “Maxwell Murder” cuz they played ... And Out Come the Wolves from start to finish, first bass note I just get a fucking forearm to the back of my head and my beer goes flying like six rows up. I was like, well this is on! Ben: Haha. Lee: I kind of fought my way out of it but basically just retreated another thirty rows and, enjoyed the rest of the show. Ben: Nice. Got another beer, I hope. Lee: Got another beer or two, although I did have to be, that was when I was doing the PI work so I had to be like downtown at like six in the morning for some surveillance thing, and the show basically didn't start until almost midnight, so I didn't get insanely intoxicated or anything cuz I was trying to be responsible cuz I had to be at work the next day. But it was a blast. Ben: I think the Rancid lead singer... Tim Armstrong? Lee: Yup. Ben: I think he lived in our neck of the woods. I think he lived in Highland Park. Lee: Yeah, he did, I think he lived in Highland Park and that bar that Heather used to work at, she said he used to go there quite a bit and just hang out. Ben: Yup, I love that place. Lee: Eedendale or Ed-endale? Ben: Edendale, yup. Tom Mix, Casey Mix's grandfather's old stopping grounds. Lee: Isn't it crazy how you can remember like these minute little details like that but you ask me like what year something took place and I'm like, I have no idea, I think it was some time in the 90s but I could be wrong about that. Ben: Haha. I think Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine also lived in Highland Park/Eagle Rock area. Lee: Yep... yep. Although I think he's about to move up because from what I hear, the crazy anarchist/socialists of Rage Against the Machine are reuniting to go on like a CitiBank tour or something (starts laughing). Ahh, that's so fucking depressing. Ben: Haha. They're finally taking the corporate money. Lee: Well everyone's gotta make a living, ya know? Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Ben: Haha. So are you reading any books? Lee: Umm... actually no, I'm not. I've been sort of lookin around for a book around here that I haven't read but I feel like every book I have I've read at least once or twice. I kinda want something new but of course the libraries are shut down. Ben: Right. You want something fiction or nonfiction or? Lee: Yeah, I don't read fiction. I haven't read any fiction since I think R.L. Stine back in the day. Ben: Haha, gotcha. Lee: I just find nonfiction a lot more interesting. So yeah, I’m not reading anything and I'm ashamed to say it, because it's a great time to read.  Ben: Yes... indeed... uuumm... so what was the last alcoholic beverage you had? Do you like to have a drink some nights err? Lee: Oh yeah, oh yeah. Typically my go-to has always been whiskey. But I was talkin to a colleague at work and he was sayin that he just really enjoys drinking tequila and I was like well I’ve never really had a taste for tequila and he just started talking about how great it was and then I was like well shit, maybe I should give tequila another try, so last couple nights I’ve had a little bit a tequila, which is... somewhat enjoyable. Still not my thing but... Ben: Yeah. It gives you energy, I think it’s the only... upper? Lee: Yeah, the only upper, stimulant, whatever. That’s what he told me and I was like, well that doesn’t make sense cuz it’s alcohol and alcohol is a depressant all the time, it just depresses your nervous system. So then I looked it up, er, googled it, and it was like a super non-clear, vague answer and it was like, well while it technically is a stimulant it’s also ethanol which is also a depressant. And I’m like, well what the fuck does that mean? But I did notice that when I was drinkin it, we were sittin there playin Yahtzee and I was like fired up.  Ben: Right? Lee: I dunno. I dunno if it’s just fired up just cuz of the Yahtzee and I thought it was gonna be lame and I fuckin loved it. But I was super into it and I was kinda shakin my leg a little bit like, yeah, let’s do this, let’s play some more Yahtzee and I was like, is this the Tequila that’s doing that or is this the Yahtzee or am I just like in a really good mood. Ben: I think that’s what tequila does cuz I HATED tequila, never drank it, I remember sitting next to a girl at a party at Saint Mike’s and her breath, she was drinking out of a big bottle of tequila and her whole being just wreaked of cheap tequila. And I think I was like nineteen or twenty at the time so I was like, that is the worst smell I’ve ever smelled, I’m not going anywhere near that. Flash forward to Clapp’s 30th birthday, we went to the Clippers game at Staples Center and then afterwards we were at a bar downtown and someone ordered Patron shots for everyone and I was like, I dunno if I can do this. And then we do the shot and then like twenty minutes later, two or three more shots and people are like dancing on the tables. A little bit different than sippin on scotch, so... Lee: Yeah, well the other pointer that this guy gave me was, you know, most booze you can usually get away with drinking cheaper stuff out of a plastic bottle or somethin, if you wanted to buy some cheaper whiskey out of a plastic bottle you should be fine but he was like, just don’t ever do that with tequila. If you’re gonna do it just make sure it’s somewhat decent stuff and it’s in a glass bottle. I have no way to confirm whether what this guy’s saying is accurate or not. But tequila does seem to be...a bit of an enigma for me, so I might try to get to the bottom of it a little more. Ben: Nice. Let’s seee.... How’s the dog doing? Lee: Dog’s great, man! Dog is absolutely great. He’s settled in beautifully. For the first few months we had him he was a little bit, um... I dunno if neurotic’s the right word but he definitely was a little bit more on the nervous side and it takes a while to build up trust obviously, and we couldn’t take him off the leash, we live backed up against a pretty wide open area of land where we would love to walk him but we really couldn’t take him off the leash and it would suck because it’s such a great place for the dog to run around and we just never knew when he would come back and blah blah blah. Ben: Yep.  Lee: And he would not let you like sorta touch his collar, he wouldn’t bite but he would let you know, like a little fake snap or whatever if you touched his collar. He drooled a lot. But right around month 3? He just like totally settled in. And now every day twice a day we just kinda walk around, whether it’s backwoods or on the street, off leash, and he kinda just like trots up ahead, looks back at us, waits for us to catch up. And then if we yell, if we say “Here” he kinda turns around and comes runnin back towards us. If we say “Stay” or “Wait” he just sits there. He sleeps, he’s like the most cuddley dog of all time, you can’t be anywhere near him without him coming up and putting his face on your lap. I think he’s gotten better looking too, to be honest with you. When we first got him I didn’t think he was very cute, but I think he was just carrying a lot of stress in his face.  Ben: Right. Lee: And his face sorta always seemed a little bit tight or contorted as if he was unsure. But now he just kinda melts into everything he does. And he’s super cool. And he’s gained fifteen pounds since we got him, which is awesome, because he was really underweight. Ben: Nice. Yeah, was he a rescue? What’s his name, by the way? I’m forgetting his name. Lee: He is a rescue. His name when we got was Chance and we were like, well that name sucks and so we changed it to Bojo. B-O-J-O. Yeah, he was a rescue who apparently spent like the first year or two at some shelter down south in Colorado, this place had like no money, they kept him outside in like a coat year-round, which is rough here in Colorado, it gets cold in the winters. And then he was transferred up to another shelter up here and like no one would adopt him. We dunno why now cuz we look at him and we’re like, we have the perfect dog, we’ve got the best dog of all time. And I know everyone thinks that about their dog but... he really is cool... Ben: He’s a mix? Lee: Yeah, we were actually thinkin about doing one of those dog DNA tests because he’s soo like, he looks... we think he’s a boxer/lab mix, he kinda looks like that. But he also looks like he might have some Mastiff in him, and he’s got some tendencies of some other breeds, so I dunno, it would just be kind of a cool thing to know exactly what he is but... We just tell people boxer/lab.  Ben: Yeah. That sounds like a handsome dog. Lee: Yeah, he’s a real handsome fella. Ben: You’ve earned his trust and... nice. Lee: Yeah. And we trust him too now which is super cool, we can just kinda walk around the woods together and just have a good old time.  Ben: Nice. Yeah, you’ve always been a dog person. Lee: Yeah, I think they’re great. I just think they’re great. Ben: Haha. So what’s the weather like in Colorado? Lee: Uh, it’s pretty much beautiful. It’s kind of annoying because the winters are SUPER long and like by the end of it you’re just ready for it to be over and you think spring’s comin because it gets like sunny and mid-forties for a couple days. And then you’ll get like three days of snow and everything that melted’ll just come right back. Ben: Yeah. Lee: So that’s kinda where we’re at right now, where you can hear snow melting off roofs but there’s still basically snow covering, you know, ninety percent of the surfaces. But it’s like sunny and 45 or something today, so... yeah. Just kinda hopin it stays that way. I’m ready for spring now, I’m a summertime guy. Ben: Yup. Have you seen any signs of spring, any flowers er...? Lee: No flowers but there’s definitely some wild grasses showing, and the sagebrush you can actually see the tops of it now. It’s not like blooming or anything but it was just buried in snow for the last seven months so it’s kinda cool to see some open patches of grass and some sagebrush and... more birds. Stuff like that, so... definitely some signs. Ben: Nice. Will Bojo munch on any sagebrush or any grass? Lee: He does enjoy a... I mean this is our first real spring with him so we’ve never know him to react to how the snow is melting. He loves snow, he loves jumpin around in it but he does seem to be chewin on more grass now that it’s melting. And he did show up yesterday for the first time with a dead squirrel in his mouth. Ben: Mhm. I’m sure he was probably pretty proud of that. Lee: Oh yeah. And then we were like telling him to drop it and put it away and he was just like lookin at us like, what are you guys doing? Ben: Haha. Yeah, right. I brought you guys dinner! Lee: Yeah. And we were like ah, we’ll just put it in the trash bag that’s full of dog shit and then throw it in the dumpster, and he’s like, whatever.  Ben: Haha. Ah, that’s great. Are the people in Colorado much different than they are in MA? Lee: Umm... It’s been a while since I’ve lived in Massachusetts to be honest with you so, like, the sort of the quirks of everybody... I dunno, Colorado’s a very active outdoor community. But up here, like IN the mountains where it’s like ski resort country... there’s just a lot of um... the term “shitbag”’s probly not nice to use but like just a lot of people you can tell their reeeal concern in life is like bein able to shred some fresh gnar. Ben: Haha. Yes. Lee: And other than that you can like pretty much go fuck yourself. And they’ll be nice people and they won’t, you know, go out of their way to hurt anyone but like, you can’t like RELY on them for anything.  Ben: Right. They just wanna shred gnar. Lee: Yeah, they just wanna shred some fresh fresh buttercream and like I don’t blame them for that? But at the same time it’s like you need to be able to pull your weight a little bit.  Ben: Haha, yup. Lee: So that's one group of people, but then there's another group of people up here that's just like active, engaged, friendly, um, usually a little bit older, maybe people who are early retirees or just retired or whatever who seem like really topnotch people. Ben: Which proves our point that the older you get, maybe the cooler. Maybe the cooler. Lee: Yeah, the cooler, the wiser, I mean that's the way I feel about myself, for sure. Ben: Have you gotten on the mountain at all this year? Lee: Yeah. I mean it sucks now because they had to close... this whole county, I mean just like everywhere else really but this whole county, they had to shut down about a month before the official end of ski season so, we didn't realize the time of our last ski day was gonna be our last ski day, but... We try to get out, like, in my line of work obviously, bein a chef, the holiday season and that winter season up here I'm just getting slammed like nonstop for a couple months while everyone's up here on vacation and doing all their skiing. BUT once all those people go home and February and March rolls around and it really starts to slow down then that's my time where I'm like, cool, I'm gonna ski like at least once, maybe twice a week and just enjoy everything around here and not have to fight crowds cuz, you know, I'm obviously not off on weekends or anything. So late winter/early spring these last two years has been my time to get up there. That got cut short a little bit this season but, got to get out on the mountain on the skis. We do a lot of hiking and we've been snowshoing every day since we've been quarantined, like we just go out on either some hike or some snowshoe, we went sledding with the dog the other day and that was just insanely fun even though it was kinda dangerous. But yeah, there's no shortage of outdoor activities for me right now. Ben: Yeah. That all sounds great. Lee: It is great. Ben: And these are all things you can also do in New Hampshire, are you guys still thinking of moving to New Hampshire? Lee: Yeah, it's definitely, um, we've got a shortlist workin right now in terms of options or where we wanna go from here or what we wanna do and they're all sort of... what's the term?... I dunno... co-related, codependent, whatever, like one factor's obviously dependent on several others. But New Hampshire's definitely up towards the top of the list. So I was excited, she was excited. And then we had a couple other options sort of present themselves to us so we're kinda weighin those out now and, uh, we'll figure it out. Ben: Yup... Options like... out west or.. back east? Lee: Um... Just options, Ben, you know what I mean? I don't feel like I need to get into any more than that. Ben: Haha, all right, I don't wanna get into your business too much, okay. Lee: Haha, no, you'll be the first to know once we decide though. Ben: Good, good. And also I didn't want to get into politics too much because it can just be a drag like we both agree but... Lee: Sure. Ben: ... and this is kind of a tricky question in the post-#MeToo movement and now that you're engaged but, carrying it over from our last interview, do you still want to boink Hillary Clinton. Lee: (trying to suppress laughing) Ahh god, I have no recollection... Ben: Haha, just purely hypothetically! Purely hypothetically! Lee: I have no recollection of that conversation ever happening. Ben: Hahah. I mean it's on my Tumblr but... Lee: Oh yeah, well... I don't even know how to get on a Tumblr so... Ben: Haha. Lee: No, I don't actively want to, uumm... If the situation presented itself, like if I was a single man... yeah, it's obviously something you'd have to consider but... yeah, maybe the desire has lessened as compared to what it was the last time we did this. Ben: Still a lot of power in play there. Lee: Yeah, for sure, I mean that's... Ben: Part of the appeal? Lee: I could be theoretically a couple heartbeats away from the White House like if things worked out between Hill Dawg and I, which I would make sure everything was kosher on my end but... Yeah, that's funny that you mentioned politics and I thought about our last conversation and all that was goin on and all that we talked about and the question you had is do you still wanna blank Hillary Clinton. Topnotch journalism. Ben: Haha. I mean I spent hours honing these questions. Uumm, yeah, again I don't wanna ask annyy.... we're pretty much at the end here because I do have to transcribe all of this which will take me like thirty hours... but I enjoy it, just savoring, retyping every word that you've spoken but ahh... obviously having in mind what's going on in the world right now -- where do we go from here? Lee: Ahhh, gosh. That's a big question. Ben: Just... more tequila and Yahtzee err? Lee: I mean, you say that I think tongue in cheek but... Ben: Not really!... not really. Lee: Yeah, no, I mean my whole mentality from the day it sort of became clear that this was gonna be a serious thing was, um, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to put my energy anywhere I want and to focus it anywhere I want, and the way I've chosen to do that is like I've said focus on my family and the people around me who I care about and care about meee... you know, get out in nature every day, get exercise every day, try and learn something, we've been doin a ton of cooking at home, pickling pretty much every vegetable in sight... Ben: Nice, that's exciting. Lee: ... Yeah, and just gettin back to the good life and I feel like there's a lot of people who are embracing similar approaches. And then there are also the people whooo, ya know, take ahh... one of the first headlines I saw was like, “Pornhub offers free premium membership for everybody,” and it's like okay, you can spend the next two months just furiously whackin it with your pants around your ankles. You're not gonna come out of that in a good place and you are gonna be terrified the whole time and you're gonna come out in some fucking self-induced stupor and like you're not gonna know what to do or where to turn. So I feel like there's already sort of two mentalities developing and there's two approaches we can take and, I dunno what we're gonna do as a nation, because that's just insane, that many people all tryna choose a path, but at the same time when I said like I'm tryna cut off useless information and stupid politics, what it boils down to is people's individual decisions they make and paths they choose to take. I dunno where we go, but I know where I'm goin so... that's what I'm focused on. Ben: So... Pornhub in moderation? Lee: I would say no Pornhub, if you want my advice, I would say stop whacking yourself silly altogether and choose somethin else to do, find another focus. Ben: Haha. Okay, cool. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about or...? Lee: Uh, I want to let you know that I love you. Ben: Thanks! Lee: And I hope you're doin well. And I hope everyone else back home is doin well. And I've been meaning to send you something, and I finally figured out how I'm gonna do it. The vessel was sort of always the issue, I think I've got that solved. So keep an eye out for something in the mail. Ben: Ooo, a package from Lee. No offense to you but I will be sure to fully sanitize it upon receiving it. Lee: Haha, yeah, for sure. Sanitize everything. Ben: I talked to Shaun right before doing this and I asked him if he had any questions to ask you and he said, "Ask him where the fuck he has been and why we never hear from him." Lee: Haha. Ben: I assume it's cuz, you know you were saying, well, usually you're working and now you're able to enjoy yourself but life for a chef is just like, you're not even able to think, it's just like french fries, french fries, french fries! Right? Lee: Yeah, it's pretty much all about french fries all the time. Ben: Haha. Sometimes sweet potato fries. Lee: But I dunno, I could put that back at Shaun, like when was the last time... I mean... I dunno... look, man... I'm not tryna... Ben: Haha. Lee: Ohh, I miss you guys, I miss Shaun especially. I'll do my part to make sure that we reconnect sometime soon. Ben: Cool. I think that's the perfect... perfect way to end it.

[hcstealth]

Back In Action

Introduction Sonic Mania! What's Up With Me HCGE Status Other Projects Closing

Introduction

Wow, it's been a while since I've done this! I've got a lot to talk about today, so hang in there...

Sonic Mania!

It's been a crazy ride, and the response has just been fantastic! I'm glad that so many people like this game so much! If it has to be said, I certainly would like to do another if the opportunity arises :P

There's some standard stuff.. although I worked on this game for Sega, that doesn't mean they're involved with or endorse anything else I do, anything I say or do here is something I'm saying or doing personally and not Sega, blah blah blah

It's out there, too - people have opened it up and had a look inside already. NDA is a thing so I can't get super-specific on some things, but I would like to talk a bit about some stuff people have already found

First up is the "Egg Janken" boss. Two words, probably confused by the lack of spaces in any filenames. Without getting too detailed, it was one of a number of concepts we had very early-on, and as things do, its design, function, and place in the game sort of evolved over the course of nailing down the project design. Its name "Janken" is indeed as some know, the name of the Japanese form of "Rock Paper Scissors", which is the game it plays with you to determine who gets hurt. Some people have commented that "you always get hit", but actually the object was meant to be placed higher than in any demonstration to-date. Specifically, around 16 pixels higher than the most recent video demonstration as of this writing. It's also been speculated that the pattern is random, but this is only true on the final hit as a "panic" maneuver - the patterns for the first two hits are indeed very predictable (although different from each other). As I've mentioned in an interview somewhere, the very first level we created was actually an early version of Studiopolis Zone Act 2, which is what we initially showed to Sega, and how some of its elements ended up in the reveal trailer. I implemented this boss for demonstration in that act - the first boss ever implemented in this game. Not bad for just-then learning to use a new version of the engine, eh? :P

Next, there are the "SP500" printer objects, fictional upgraded relatives of the Sega SP400 "plotter printer" for early SC computers. Incidentally, I also implemented one of those - the ink-using version. That version, in particular, has some additional functionality that I don't think anyone has worked out yet.. It's a little complicated, but I'll tell you this - it involves another one of the tile planes. To a lesser degree, there's also the "Acetone" object which I don't think anyone has connected with this group..

Also in a recent interview, I mentioned that the functionality of some bosses had evolved throughout development. It's a bit of a tricky setup, but you might just be able to find an earlier incarnation of one of them that didn't quite pan out. You've already found the original arena!

Well, I've had my fun.. anything else remains a mystery :P

At least until, I dunno, a week from next Tuesday? Maybe not.. could be confusing

What's Up With Me

Life-wise, the biggest thing is that my wife and I are preparing to move- We've bought a house! It's well-known that we currently live in LA. The new house is in Riverside, but that's still relatively close. We're set to move in by Oct31, so we'll still be dealing with a bit of prep-work until then, and then the actual move. There's also my elderly mother-in-law who will be staying with us, so we'll be handling her transition as well. If anyone wants to help us furnish the place and/or ensure our stability, I'll be talking about that in a follow-up post :P

Otherwise, now that Sonic Mania has been released, I can start looking into my own projects again. I already have, actually!

HCGE Status

When I put it aside for Sonic Mania, I was in the middle of a big restructuring of the file system that had a few perks - it's more modular, more-easily rearranged, more things can be integrated into the editing interface as it evolves, and more things can be tracked and named with the "alias" system. I'm not sure if I've actually mentioned this before, but the structure of the data files is pretty far along. I was hoping to finish that up before making another release, but I might go a slightly different route

The new, more versatile editors I showed off a while back are already much better than the original fixed-size ones integrated directly into the game window, but are lacking polish. I could probably tidy them up for release quicker than I could do anything else, so I may attempt that first just to get the ball rolling with improvements

As previously mentioned, I'll be moving relatively soon, so my other platforms are already packed away and therefore I can not test updated builds for release. If I'm able to release anything before that time, it will be Win/Lin/Mac, and other platforms will follow after I've settled in. For all I know, it'll take that long to prepare a decent set of release builds anyway...

I've added a few other new features as well, but I won't talk much about them right now (maybe you can pick a few out in upcoming videos). I can say, though, that I think people will be very pleased for them to finally be included. I just need to solidify how these features are manipulated by the end-user...

Beyond that, I still plan to develop tutorial text/video and more examples once a few of the usage overhauls are complete. Most of what you would learn now will still be carried over, though, and I will be providing support to help anyone eager enough get started right away. There's just no sense in postponing those things to create tutorials when, after they're complete, the presentation will be off anyway

Meanwhile, there are still plans to complete Fantastic Franklin, though this will happen a bit later. If you remember hearing of "Vertebreaker"/"SpineLash"/"Bone Rattle", there were some unfortunate circumstances that caused us to have to put the game on hold, though the core team still wants to complete it. For now, we've re-grouped on a new title that I personally think is going to be pretty fun. It's currently in very early development and using a lot of placeholder material, but I'll let you peek at it just so you can see some progress-

Other Projects

Certain "fan projects" and the like are still under consideration. My previous post discussed the status of Sonic Megamix. This is still the case - I would still like to clean up the existing game for presentation and complete and release my engine restructure for the SegaCD/MegaCD's SUB-CPU if time and ability permit. Again, though, because of my upcoming move, my hardware is already packed away and I will not have access to it until after we're settled in at our new house. I will probably push for some kind of HCGE release first anyway, but I do intend to push this toward completion over time

Closing

That was quite an info-dump! You might have noticed that this post has an index of links at the top. I've been sectioning off my longer posts in hopes of making them easier to take in, so I figured the index should help even more if anyone wanted to break it up or was looking for specific information. I'll probably be doing that from now on when I have so much to say at once

Anyway, thanks for reading!

[lizzieart]

Hey!! As much as I'd enjoy the idea I doubt I'm worth that much to you, but I'd love to hear about the characters you've created and if they are based upon anyone you know or knew for the ideals behind them. Hope you get this soon I'm interested in your stories.

Well first of all bless you, and second you are already worth that much to me because you took the time out of your day to send me a message!  Seriously, thank you.  I am a lonely garbage can.  And third, yes, some of my characters are loosely based on people, but most are just based on traits I relate to and/or admire.

I’m going to put the rest of this answer under a read more; if you choose to read it, buckle up, ‘cause there’s a huge fucking wall of text below.

It all started with a homebrew one shot my friend Cait was running in the winter of 2013.  I had never played a tabletop RPG before (I’ll still say tabletop even though she was running it online), but I had always been interested in her worldbuilding and characters; it was a frequent topic of discussion for us.  Plus, I trusted her pretty much explicitly with my sensitivities, so even though I was anxious, I agreed to join up.  The campaign didn't start for a few months after, so I spent plenty of time asking Cait as much as I could (without spoilers) about her world.  After all, I was (and still am) a person who completely overthinks every little detail of something I’m into (yay special interest fixation).

Just some background on the setting; there are two groups of people in this world, magi and non magi.  Magi were heavily persecuted (like at the threat of death) for hundreds of years, but not so openly in present time (although this can depend on region).  The Havens is a city built almost exclusively by mages, for mages.  It was a fortress that provided sanctuary to mages during wars long passed, and in more peaceful times turned into one of the largest universities of the arcane in the Uplands.  There are other countries/continents other than the Uplands, but those have not been planned out at this time (to my knowledge).  Anything else world related I should be able to answer as we go along in the rest of this text (or if you send me another ask; though we’ll see if you want to after this lmao).

Saoirse was a real diamond in the rough for a while.  I knew my babe was in that mess of ideas somewhere, but it took a bit to figure it out.  I decided on a name first (I had been aching to use the name Saoirse), and I drew quite a few pictures of her before I settled on a design, but even that changed over time as I grew accustomed to drawing literally anyone else besides other white people.  I had educated myself and knew what nasty tropes to stay away from and made her a person.  She's a confident, powerful, mentor figure, and her exuberance for life and love of her family has gained the adoration of colleagues and friends alike.  She has her faults; she tends to overextend herself trying to help people or gets caught up in her work; but it all stems from a place of great compassion; she is dedicated to making the world a sweeter place.  To be honest, somewhere along the way Saoirse turned into everything I want and hope to be.  She has a family and friends who she is close to and love her dearly.  She never has to hide her feelings or work to earn their love.  She just has it.  Saoirse is a child of love in its purest form.  And she brightens up my life every day.

Brennya started out as one of Cait's NPCs, but a relationship grew between her and Saoirse after the events of the one shot.  Cait and I aren't always in contact due to life issues and school and work, but she let me keep writing interactions between Brennya and my other characters regardless (thank you).  Also, while it is a side note, have I ever mentioned that Cait’s absolutely brilliant?  She double majored in English and Geology and then got accepted into grad school right after that.  I love her.  So even though I can't (and wouldn't out of respect) claim Brennya is purely my character, I was allowed to continue writing for her.  And the way I write Brennya is honestly pretty personal.  Brennya is closer to the person I am currently... and have been in the past.  Brennya is loved now too, but Brennya was not born into love.  Love was conditional, a commodity contingent on success; personal worth built on actions and achievements, not being.  She grew to be a successful scholar nonetheless, but success rings hollow when you have no one to share it with.  She can be deeply cynical of the intentions of other people and readily manipulative of others (getting what she can from them before they have the chance to do the same to her).  She expects deceit and is truly thrown off guard when confronted with an honest person (like Saoirse).  She wants things like family and connection and truth, but has a hard time believing they exist for a person like her.  So she pretends that she is impervious to those feelings; that wanting those things is trivial in the span of existence; until she can no longer deny it.  When she meets Saoirse, it's not easy at first.  Being truly cherished at no expense of your own is difficult to understand for someone like Brennya (and for someone like me), but it is a truly beautiful thing if you can accept it.  Meeting Saoirse’s family is overwhelming for her at first too; they are an intense bunch; but they accept her almost immediately, simply because she makes their daughter happy.  Brennya acclimates eventually.  

Personally, though I’m still not in a great situation, I have healed from of a lot of bitterness I used to hold.  Seeing them happy inspires me to do better in my own life; realizing that while it may take time, it will ultimately be worth it.  And that someday I will be able to love and trust fully.

Anyways, the rest of them are a little more lighthearted in nature, I swear!!

Aoife is Saoirse’s sister and the middle child of the Keir siblings.  She’s the fun, flamboyant sibling; always jovial, super pretty, and damn good at making others feel welcome.  Aoife sees everybody as a potential friend.  Gods help you if you mistake her good nature for weakness though; she’s a powerful force to be reckoned with.  She’s a vital part of the Bluewater Town Guard, and she loves her work, preferring busy places like the town square or the docks, where her nature as both a protector and people person can flourish.  She also adores the town’s children and always makes time for them.  She lives in a house on the Keir property with her wife Mazneen.

Mazneen is my newest character, so forgive me for not having a lot on her yet (I’m trying to do something new while being culturally sensitive).  I also think it’s important for me as her creator to state explicitly somewhere down the line that she is a trans woman (representation is a high priority for me), but with the really angry and reactionary culture of tumblr these days, it’s really hard to create trans characters without someone getting upset (watch, someone will write a really angry callout for me not ‘performing her gender right’ or something…  well guess what buds, there’s no one right way for a trans woman to be trans!  BEGONE TERF!).  What else I can tell you is that she is outgoing and so incredibly sweet, and loves helping people see the beauty inside themselves like she sees in herself.  Mazneen is also a savvy businesswoman and trader originally from the Havens, and has family, friends, and business contacts there (I just haven’t gotten that far in her writing).  She currently lives and works in Bluewater with Aoife’s mother, Meirna, in her tailoring business (accounting and supply are her specialties).  They mostly make clothing suitable for cold climates like Bluewater, but occasionally produce some finer pieces on commission.  Their regular clothing is really popular amongst the whalers and even gets shipped to other parts of the Uplands.  They’re basically running something like a fantasy L.L. Bean if that makes any lick of sense.

Meirna, who I mentioned earlier, is the Keir siblings’ mother and the wife of Roarke.  She is a woman of great intelligence, tact, and grace; people used to tell her that had she not married a whaler she could have been a favorite of the Havens elite.  But she chooses to completely disregard this, and to this day she is more than happy with her life; she is still in love with her husband Roarke, runs her own well-known business, and has three very successful children.  I also have the inclination to make her deeply spiritual in some way; the Uplands actually has a few religions with a decent pantheon of gods, but I haven’t quite figured out the details of that yet.   Regardless of spirituality (or lack thereof), people look to her for comfort and guidance.

Roarke is the father of the Keir siblings and Meirna’s husband.  He’s a retired whaler but still an active part of Bluewater’s whaling guild.  Being retired certainly doesn’t keep him from being out on the water though; he just fishes for a lot smaller catch these days.  He loves the outdoors and has a fire for life that just can’t be tempered.  But he’s also a MEGA DAD.  Like the best Dad I imagine one could hope for.  He loves his family so much and he’s so proud of his kids and all their achievements.  Intense honestly just isn’t strong enough to describe the way he lives his life.  Roarke is the epitome of ALL THE TIME ALL THE TIME.  Just a huge dude with an absolute heart of gold.  Where else could Aoife have gotten it from?

Arlen is the youngest of the Keir siblings, and takes after his mother more.  His intelligence and patience are unrivaled; and his charismatic and comforting presence gives him the perfect bedside manner as a physician.  He studied at the Havens like Saoirse and Brennya, but with a focus on medicine instead of arcane arts and archaeology (Saoirse and Brennya's concentrations, respectively).  He’s an accomplished healer and has been instrumental in improvements made to Bluewater’s current health awareness and services.  He spends time every year to make trips to Snowshower, the large city northeast of Bluewater, and sets up a free clinic in the impoverished areas of the city.  He eventually ends up in a relationship with Rory after some time (still working on those details).

Rory also started out as an NPC.  He was originally the character that was Saoirse's call to action; a former student in a spot of trouble, and Saoirse just didn't have the heart to turn him down.  Except that the trouble he was in was, in fact, much more trouble than originally stated; a large debt with a notorious Poppyport (a city on the southernmost coast of the Uplands) crime syndicate, Redbloom (also can you guess their specialty lmao).  After the events of the job, Saoirse finds out that she's only thirded his debts.  Turns out he's got some serious impulse control issues and formed a gambling habit that, as you can probably imagine, got way out of hand.  He has an intense need to impress people with flashy displays, always trying to one up himself and others, but quite often these gestures fall flat.  Rory was chasing that dream of being famous and left Bluewater a few years back, only to become known as a fool.  And even though it was free publicity, bad publicity is only just publicity until you owe a crime lord his debts.  So Saoirse takes a risk and flees Poppyport, making her way back to Bluewater with Rory in tow.  Redbloom has no ties to a whaling town like Bluewater, it isn’t profitable enough.  So now he’s stuck in Bluewater for his own safety, and it would have driven him nuts if it weren’t for befriending the Keir family.  He still isn’t a huge fan of life in Bluewater, but his work and friendships keep him well grounded.  He eventually starts dating Arlen sometime into the timeline, but I haven’t written any of that yet; it’s only a series of ideas right now.  I do also want to look into writing a resolution with the whole Redbloom debt, but we’ll see where the story goes.  He’s always been…  A little all over the place.  He was a mandatory character and I really had to think about a way to work him into the story, and even now I’m still not completely satisfied.

I guess my main point is that I’m not nearly finished yet; I’ve only just begun getting bits of my story down, but I’m dedicated to expanding this family and their world and I just really love them all to bits.  And apart from their main story I’ve got some alternate universes I like to work on too, like their Dragon Age AU.  I’ve actually written quite a bit of meta and dialogue, and even drawn some for that one.  I haven’t really shared it with anyone yet though; haven’t figured out a delivery method that feels quite right yet.  I tried starting a blog for it, but it got stuck in the development phase a few months back.  Maybe I’ll try and figure that out soon.  I’ve just got so many ideas!  Anyways sorry for the wall of text and thanks for hanging in here with me with I figure shit out!  If you have any more questions I’d love to answer them! 

[reginat766352-blog]

Lodge Deals At Chimney Hill Property And The Ol' Barn Inn, Lambertville, NJ

Animals within the news is at all times a topic that will get our heartstrings pulled or sends us into an outrage. This past year we noticed many animals upfront and centre. A pit bull escaped from a Montreal residence in June and savagely attacked and killed a lady in her own yard, setting in movement a fierce political battle that has ended up in court. Police shot and killed the dog as it stood over a lifeless Christiane Vadnais. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre led the charge as town swiftly handed a bylaw banning new pit bulls and placing strict rules on current house owners of pit bulls when strolling the animals or keeping them exterior the home. The bylaw was rapidly challenged by the local SPCA in courtroom, which suspended it until it hears authorized arguments. The Montreal SPCA argued that some elements are discriminatory, unreasonable and unenforceable and would lead to all pit bulls being penalized regardless of their behaviour. Final January, Ontario’s animal welfare company filed a court application to destroy 21 canine seized in a raid on an alleged dogfighting ring. The entire motive televisions come with mute buttons is so we don't must listen to sports activities commentators. And people guys are professionals. Your weekly soliloquy on how and why Eli Manning is a "nancy boy" provides me some perception as to why your career as an ESPN anchor by no means panned out, or bought started in the primary place. Facebook is designed to assist us have a good time and share our lives, but to not the extent that you simply alienate everyone else on the planet with the uncomfortable glow of your private success. Oh my God, I'm so pleased your life is so much better than mine. Do you know more than half of weddings end in divorce, and seventy five% of children become jerks? Drinking all night time and (sometimes) in the course of the day actually would not must cease after college, however documenting it with photograph proof most likely should. The man sipping on a 40oz earlier than his 9am English lit class was a legend. Kmart is also having their women's summer attire sale this week with some alpacas for sale on informal combine and match fashions for summer. On sale are Basic Editions crinkle camp shirts, Route sixty six scoop-neck tees, Bongo crochet back tanks, Riders polos or shorts, Fundamental Editions cargo Bermudas, Route 66 shorts, Bongo shorts, Riders basic denims, Basic Editions graphic tees, Route 66 hoodies and Dream Out Loud striped tanks. There appear to be more than 300 awesome possibilities for combine and match coordinates for summer time! I do know; I'm useless. Anyway listed here are the three Qjori boys. And of course Tsar! And naturally (once more), the massive Daddy of all of them, Van Diemen Qjori of Patou! General a thoroughly satisfying day, effectively completed to Karen and Nikki for organising it all. However, something has acquired to be executed concerning the entry of the general public. And my last word on the topic is that I think the organisers of the Romsey Present (the whole present, not the alpaca bit) are a bit jobsworth. I used to be berated by a moron in an orange tabbard for strolling alongside the metalled highway again to the automobile park at the tip of the day. Once i asked why I used to be being told to stroll within the mud I was shouted at 'You will get run over, it is health and safety! After i explained that there were no cars within sight and that when one got here alongside I might get out of the best way I was accused of being firstly rude and the arrogant. Left a nasty style that did, jobsworths. Job accomplished, lunch was troughed. Some Reddingvale people stated we ate a lot! With all the darkish animals judged it was time for us to have a wander spherical the show and catch up with fellow exhibitors before our remaining event the Sire's Progeny class. Now we have never been in a single of these however as we had three Qjori boys in our crew I assumed that we might give it a go. We roped in Ali Chant from Windrush Farm Alpacas as our third handler and off we went into the ring, the workforce from the dark facet up towards three groups from the sunshine aspect. I cherished it, being in the ring with three of our boys at the same time was an actual buzz and when we were presented with the second place rosette I used to be absolutely delighted! Obviously I want to have come first however we were overwhelmed by The Reddingvale Workforce with their Top Brass progeny, so no complaints. Sadly the one photographs I've of the day are of Gus in the ring with Toddy. A tremendous number of wineries continue to develop throughout the state line from Conneaut. Ohio and Pennslvania share tourism kind Conneaut Lake and Conneaut Lake Park as effectively, although these are approximately 30 miles inland from Lake Erie. The Pepsi Cola firm helps the park with grant funding to improve its midway for historic preservation of the positioning. Pymatuning State Park is fewer than 5 miles west of the amusement park and another good place to see. Take Route 5 out of Conneaut and proceed all the technique to the far Pennsylvania state line. Between Conneaut and Erie, a number of nice views of the shoreline and some seashore fronts are seen, in addition to sailboats and freighters on the lake. Approximately 2.5 miles exterior of Erie PA, you'll find Peninsula Drive and in case you turn left, it's going to take you to Presque Isle. The entrance causeway is a wide boulevard full of pure landscaping and native bushes, one of many loveliest I've seen. It takes you out into Lake Erie to a seashore and camping space among several small lakes If you adored this post and you would certainly such as to receive even more details concerning Www.facebook.com kindly visit our own web-site. .